Learn to Fly
by FlightInstructor
Summary: "When we gained our freedom, we never asked what was the price for it." Even at that premise, Goro refused to stand down. A Hard Sci-Fi story picking up from Episode 22 of the anime series Darling in the Franxx. In a barren world, this story follows the Children in their search for a place to call home, and their struggle in figuring out how to fly on their own. [Monthly releases]
1. CHAPTER 1 :: PROLOGUE :: Dream with me

**Type:** Gen

 **Cast:** Goro - Ichigo - Ikuno - Futoshi - Hachi - Zorome - Miku - Original Characters

 **Tags:** Hard Science Fiction - Romance - Military - Survival - Psychological - Drama - Mystery - Mecha - Adulthood themes - Society building - Longfic

 **Warnings:** Violence - Mental hardships - Disturbing imagery.

…

* * *

 **Prologue**

 **Dream with me**

* * *

…

The late afternoon warm breeze caresses the verdant city park, bathed by the dim neon lights of the great metropolis.

Countless green meadows sprawl free before the watchful eyes of the skyscrapers' windows, painted over by orderly low hedges, trees, and bushes, shimmering like emeralds half-illuminated by a full moon now overpowering the dying sunset. Stone-tiled walking paths cross through the park like vessels, crowded by couples sitting on benches, children playing, families resting and lonely silence-seeking strollers, all running away from the oppressive city life to enjoy the end of the day in peace and quiet. All paths lead to the same place, the center of the park, where stands tall a millenarian cherry tree in full flower.

The silent and majestic guardian. Old as the city itself, its wide and knobby bark is engraved by the old crevices of time and is washed by humid, mellow-scented moss. Petal-laden branches shoot towards the colorful evening sky and slowly, in an endless dance, streams of falling petals color the ground, yanked off by the afternoon's calm wind currents and painted red by the last light of the dying sun. It's the end of a warm day, blessed by the boons of Spring's coming, far from the frigid gales of winter.

Inside such serene sanctuary, enclosed by the tree's downward tops like in a timeless bubble, a black shorted hair child lies against the bark of the old guardian among his big, sprawling roots delving deep into the earth. The boy reading a fable book, completely absorbed by those beautifully colored pages, determined to reach the story's end despite his encroaching drowsiness.

Then, suddenly, a pink-haired girl comes running around the tree, ignoring her mother's warnings, and disappears among its big roots, wanting to explore that beautiful world made of fluttering flowers colored like her long hair. Not paying attention to the ground, she trips on a protruding root and slides in front of the surprised boy, pulling him out from his intense reading. The girl aches and the boy hurries to offer a hand to her, who looks at him and smiles, unscratched by the fall before lifting herself up. They briefly greet, then she notices her purse spilled all her candies on the ground. She recoils in surprise and hurriedly starts picking them up to not let her treasure get dirty any further. With the last one in her hand, she turns to the boy and offers it to him. The black-haired boy, surprised, shines at her with a happy smile and accepts it, then asks her if she wants to read his book with him. Noticing its beautiful cover, she happily agrees and sits close to him, shoulder to shoulder, with the book held between the two.

Page after page they lose themselves, unaware of the contents of the story but nonetheless captured by the prettiness of its images. Then, slowly but surely, the fatigue of a day spent playing gets the better of them and they fall asleep, lying their head onto one another with their backs slouched on the accommodating bark of the cherry tree. Their day ends there, resting in that beautiful corner of the world.

That fable book is about a story from time immemorial, crystallizing the sacrifice of the same couple of a boy and a girl whose love had no limits in space and time and loved themselves until the very end. Now, for them awaits the beginning of a new story, a new adventure in time without suffering or pain, in a world that doesn't refuse them or drives them apart...

...a world now fading slowly into pure white…

...

* * *

SIMULATION TERMINATED

REM PHASE TRANSITION

WARNING: DO NOT DISCONNECT SUBJECT

Hr: 83 Bp: 115-81 C02: 20 mEq / L

MONITORING...

* * *

...

The deep orange dialog box's contours eerily vibrate ever so slightly as it appears fluttering at the center of vision, marking the end of the inducted dream. A deep sigh followed by both hands gripping the side of a virtual reality set. Goro slowly and carefully takes it off his face, trying not to drag his glasses off his nose.

Darkness welcomes him as his maladjusted eyes try to adapt to the dim surrounding light, still dazzled from the bright white he just witnessed. In a matter of seconds, a small and almost empty room comes into vision. Dark walls with no windows greet him, decorated only by the faintly illuminated silhouette of a steel sliding double door. At his feet, a sterile white tiled floor, onto which was placed a big steel structure shaped like a sarcophagus, connected with steel tubes to an industrial wall dispenser inset into the front wall.

Back slouched, Goro is sitting on a chair placed in front of the structure still holding onto the visor with both hands, where he passed most of the night on watch. He groggily pulls his back upright as his gaze slowly ascends and settles on the sarcophagus, fixating on the feeble azure light coming from its top porthole window, shining on the specks of dust fluttering in the room's heavy air.

A moment of hesitation, after which Goro slowly lifts himself up on his feet to walk towards the front of the apparatus, careful not to pull the wires connecting to the visor. Finding a grated small object tray affixed to the side of it, he slides the goggles in it, then his attention shifts on the wide glass window of the metal structure as he slowly leans over to peek the inside.

A girl is lying on her back on the internal bed of the metal coffin, dressed in a white hospital gown, with an IV on her arm. She wears on her head a visored helmet covered by sensors, connected to the bed by countless orange tubes and BUS wires and, protruding from the metal lid of the round helmet, a white hairpin shaped like a bird holding onto her bluish hair, falling helplessly onto the cushion.

Her thin mouth is shaped in a beautiful, wide smile.

Goro's stomach instantly closes as his throat lumps. He diverts his gaze and instinctively forces himself to swallow in an inscrutable frown as he stands there, impotent. Looking into the glass beneath him, the face of a young adolescent straight on the road into adulthood with pointy sun-blond hair appears and exchanges with him a droopy look, complete with baggy eyes under sports glasses on top of an upturned nose, accompanied by an expression deserving nothing less than a moment of silence.

It's the fourth time that the same dream repeats.

He places his forehead onto the cold glass to wake himself up to the best he can. Eventually, comes to him the instinct of emptying his burdened mind.

"Are you still there, Ichigo?" he asks the girl in a low voice. Those words fall unheard, replied only by the deaf buzz of the vents of the metal structure. "You're still wishing their happiness, huh? Even if you're like this..." he still wanders with his soft voice, showing a forlorn smile. "You know, I'd like to have your hope... The hope that the future will give us a place to be happy, no matter where or when..."

Eventually, he shifts off the glass stained by his breath and grabs the metal chair to his back. He pulls it closer and lets himself fall onto it, in front of the encased girl. Complying with his weariness, Goro puts his arms crossed on the rim of the sarcophagus as a cushion, on which he drops his heavy loaded head.

"Everything started from there. Two months ago, when Papa abandoned us..."

"It was 'The battle for a peaceful future', he told us before sending us to death. For us Plantation 13, it was the battle after which we were told we would become free..."

He just can't muster the strength to say how that was... so incredibly wrong.

In slow, rhythmic breaths, his train of thoughts sinks into the darkness, backtracking for the dream he lost on the way there...

…

* * *

 **Prologue - End**

* * *

…

 **Q) What's Learn to Fly?**  
A) It's, in a sense, a straight up sequel to Darling in the FranXX. It takes place after episode 21, after Star Entity's awakening.

 **Q) What is it about?**  
A) It's about Plantation 13 and the reduces of the Second Battle of Gran Crevasse, finding a place to be in the unforgiving and barren world the Adults left behind. The lonely Children will discover what it means to grow up, to take life by their hands and to live a life without regrets, while finding comfort in one another.

 **Q) Is it really a longfic?**  
A) Definitely yes but progressing one chapter at a time. At May 2019, I have material for 3 proper books' worth. No kidding.

 **Q) What's the release schedule?**  
A) One chapter of 8000 to 15000 every three to four weeks. This schedule may be unstable because of my occupation, but you will be warned beforehand.

 **Q) Do you have stable or predetermined ships in the fic?**  
A) No. It's a surprise! Don't come for the slash, come for the plot. But be ready to be slashed anytime. And in very creative ways :^)

 **Q) Smut?**  
A) This is gen. GEN. G-E-N.

 **Q) Ow. No sexy time?**  
A) Not on FFN, since I don't want to be banned, but in AO3? Hell yes. Actually, I'd prefer you to search and bookmark Learn to Fly on AO3, since there the site is better, allows incredibly neat graphical stuff that works well with the theme of the story, doesn't have security issues and, more importantly, doesn't delete stories outright. DitF ficdom is in FFN, but I'm of the opinion that starting to migrate towards those places might be extremely healthy. Just drop your email onto the invite request form, forget it for a couple of weeks, then get the ticket to make your account. Easy-peasy.

 **Q) Will there be Original Characters?**  
A) Yes, a lot of them. They will be supporting characters with full background aligned to my headcanon. The focus will remain on the main cast and they will not take the main role, reserved to squad 13.

 **Q) Wait... do you follow the established canon?**  
A) A lot of canon things are not set in stone and mostly left undeveloped like a gigantic McGuffin, so for narration's sake, I will fill in the blanks with my headcanon. Yup. Oh, I was about to forget, for me the canon ends in episode 21 included. After that point, no thanks- it becomes Ichigo-tier wish fulfillment. Refer to this chapter and the endnotes.

 **Q) ...Where is Hiro and Zero Two? Those are the most important characters in DitF! Why are they not the protagonists? What are you going to do with them?**  
A) *smiles* Well... DitF was the story of Hiro and Zero Two. If you want to see more of the same, rehash the same events over and over with some details changed, like the majority of the other fics written so far, or want to see the pairing in the proper spotlight in a happy smutty sequel, this is not your fic. This is Learn to Fly, and this story carries its name and becomes a beast of its own. They will be present in the story and will have prominent roles in it, but they won't the main characters. If you want to leave the main series behind and to get into something new with a different main character roster, a story approach that develops in unforeseen ways topped with mystery, adrenaline and good themes, then this is the story for you.

That's all for now. In the hope I've piqued your interest, have a good reading.

…

* * *

…

 **\- A little rant from the author -**

Hello everyone, I'm FlightInstructor, author of this Darling in the FranXX fanfiction, one among other many.

Back in April through July I watched the anime series like everyone else, not really taken at first because of its strange premise:

1) Doggystyle controls?

2) Sexual undertones?

3) -ahem-Pegging?

Man, my sides were already in orbit!

Coming from Houseki no Kuni I just couldn't take this seriously, so thinking it was the usual ecchi action romp I just followed it shallowly while and lurking in the awesome /a/ threads while not watching the episodes... not being interested in everything else (VEG? It felt so pretentious, it didn't poke me the right way).

After some time, the threads became more and more interesting around episode 5, and was in that time that I decided to pick it back up. Then, going forward, the first cour grew up on me faster than I could imagine, despite all of its relative flaws. Then, when the awwi happened, for me it was already AOTY and I didn't regret it.

Until the second cour.

It failed spectacularly in pacing, world building, narration, out of place characterization... the ending could be handled better too, just... it became a miserable pile of unfulfilled potential. Yeah, I'm looking at you too, SAO, although you were that from start to finish.

So, what happened then? I didn't really cry or became mad for the ending, sure it was thematically consistent, but there was a point where **the story credibility went out of the window**. Logical story progression started to crumble down as themes like the 'Priest King' and it's concepts about fertility, alteration of the generational replacement and the failure of a loveless society started hijacking the story in a... deus-ex-machina way. There was a moment in the series where **the setting collapsed on itself** and stopped being about a bunch of growing soldier-kids discovering what is love (baby don't hurt me) in a dystopian society and more towards a make-believe fantasy child story/lucid dream where things happen just because the plot demands it.

But wait, it failed even in the child story department.

"And everyone lived happily ever after!"

" **Are you suuuuure, Nishigori?** "

It even tried to convey some kind of... moral? Yeah, "Long live natural society"! Praise Abe-sama!

And why going for **continuity, weight or consequence** in your story? Well... you know you can't bring the story in any direction without conflict? And I know what's up with that, because that requires drama, an external or internal "something" that makes the characters to move accordingly in a direction, each in their own way. But what if drama affects in-story the chance of a character being hurt seriously, or derails the attention away? What do we do? We have to chicken out of course, because the status quo of the cast must remain stable until the end of the story.

But of course, we want significant drama avoided, so why don't we enforce an **inconsistent and flimsy support character roster**? The Hir02 drama, inside or outside the FranXX, was what carried the show, but having no real character depth from the side cast lacked the fuel for further personal struggle... so, after episode 15, personal drama was thrown out of the window. It was beautiful knowing about 02 and Hiro and their story... but what happens when their story stops developing? Filler mode, activate.

Ah, and let's kick Futoshi in the butt too, he's clearly made for that, being a mindless FAT stereotype.

And Ikuno is kinda cool, except she's a perfect nobody that stalks Ichigo because she turned a character of her nickname around, solving a very nasty naming problem! That's how you backstory, boys!

And way to go, Goro! You are a perfect saint that places everything above yourself! Right into your element being constantly refused, eh?

MitsuKoko was literally willed by the writer, so let's ask Hiro what should I do about this!

And the poor, cute, nonexistent ZoroMiku...

Yeah I'm sperging out a literal review right now, but this is the passion that has driven me in writing this. A mix of my unbridled fantasy applied in world building and lore while still keeping in mind most of the established canon, real world science explaining story elements and mechanics, fleshed out backstory and character progression for every each one of the characters and... oh, just to drive the point home, there are lots of OCs that have that too.

How about that? Wanna follow my story?

I took a liking to writing, so I'll be around for sure.

…

This derivative Work falls under the **Creative Commons BY/SA/NC 4.0** license. Some rights reserved.

 **BY, Attribution:** The readers can copy, freely distribute, modify, rework and remix this Work as far as the original author, 'FlightInstructor', or the title of the Work, 'Learn To Fly' is cited or otherwise appropriate credit is given. Other derivative works including fanart, translations in different languages and audiobooks are allowed. Works of criticism, commentary and with instructional purpose are all allowed and encouraged.

 **SA, Share-alike:** The derivative works that are made from this Work may only be accompanied by a **Creative Commons BY/SA/NC license.** The Author opposes the use of a license more or less restrictive than the one provided with the Work.

 **NC, Non-Commercial:** The Work and it's derivative works MAY NOT be used for commercial and profit-related activities and may be ONLY used for non-commercial purposes.

The 'Darling in the FranXX' trademark, rights, characters and setting belong to their respective holders. The story of the Work and the modifications from its parent work belong to the Author.


	2. CHAPTER 2 :: Beneath a blue sky

**…**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 **Beneath a Blue Sky**

* * *

 **…**

A bright flash of light and a gigantic shockwave, followed by absolute silence.

The explosion tore apart the alien megastructure at the top of Gran Crevasse, flinging its kilometer-wide pieces like shrapnel far into the desertic landscape. Shards made of gleaming violet patterns scattered in the atmosphere and fell back to the earth, tearing the ground asunder and shooting into the air countless grey columns of fine sand. As the winds raged on, they dragged those clouds on the surface of the surrounding desert, the imperfect theatre for the still raging three-way melee between the forces of Humanity, Klaxxo and VIRM.

At the base of the mountain, sparse groups of humanoid robots tall like skyscrapers painted black and orange were panickily forming defensive circles in a phalanx of lethal orange-glowing tipped spears trying to repel the blue mass of war machines surrounding their formations. The wild stampede consuming all around them was accompanied by acute animal-like screams, composing a chilling-to-the-bone scene belonging to the most horrifying of nightmares. Monstrous, lethal, black and neon blue steel hulks of unusual shapes and sizes were erratically and violently stomping their claws against suffocating waves of violet humanoid headless robots falling from the sky like rain, all among volleys of fire and brimstone bombarding aimlessly the landscape from the sky and melting everything they met in their path. A surely desperate but necessary battle, because it carried within the destiny of planet Earth as its utmost prize.

Free from its shackles, Star Entity looked upwards towards the grey sky as its immense figure rose from the destroyed underground complex. As soon as the winds swept away the dust cloud shrouding the atmosphere, all the combatants stopped their fighting in a daze. Their gazes were magnetized in utter awe towards the kilometer-wide peerless mass of metal, slowly rising from the ruins of the Gran Crevasse. In a matter of seconds, a white, red-striped mech with a humanlike armored upper body and a golden plumed, elongated helmet built on top of a religious mantis body with four massive legs was standing tall atop the mountain. Glancing upon the heavy clouds full of tempest with a powerful stance, the machine directed its long blue horn, protruding from its forehead, upwards.

Time froze solid in fear when the horn of Star Entity lit a swirling ball of rotating plasma above its tip. The ball suddenly contracted into a point and, in a lethal glare, released itself forward in a massive beam of pure heat and energy, instantly vaporizing the tumultuous clouds above. Everything was painted the colors of the beam, a glaring blue and red, while another shockwave rocked the earth under the terrifying pressure. Eventually, the glare slowly subsided as the beam shrunk to a thin chord, to then disappear from thin air as bright colors returned to the metallic black, blue and violet mechs carcasses, lit by a shining and gentle yellow sun embedded in the stark blue sky framed by a gigantic hole in the black clouds opened by the weapon.

In unison, all the VIRM humanoid violet mechs stopped moving and fell to the ground like marionettes that had their own strings cut by invisible scissors. Then, a fissure appeared in the arid earth and a giant violet starship shaped like an enormous spearhead took flight from below the Crevasse, trying to escape Star Entity's fury. The vessel's flight came to a halt when the kilometer-wide mech grabbed hold of its tail, anchoring it down with its mass to prevent it from leaving Earth. In all response, the ship's powerful propulsors suddenly kicked off with a shockwave from its four exhausts, slipping off from Star Entity's fingers and escaping towards the sky.

After a period of hesitation, in which Star Entity stared motionless at the fleeing violet ship reaching escape velocity, it activated its own propulsors to give chase. As she slowly but effortlessly levitated upwards, countless spots in the ground all around Gran Crevasse were torn open by hundreds and hundreds of small blue starships in vertical takeoff, matching speed with the giant war machine in the ascension towards the stars.

At the bottom of the scarred Gran Crevasse human base, beside the border of the giant hole made to contain Star Entity, lay a solitary blue and white FranXX unit half buried beneath the gravel and sprawled on top of a violet VIRM dead unit. After the scorching winds of Star Entity's propulsors placated, the frontal hatch of the mech slowly opened.

…

* * *

…

I'm still hesitating to wrap my fingers around the orange-glowing emergency lever of the front access of the cockpit, illuminated just by the dim service lights.

The intense vibrations rocking the interior of Delphinium have stopped for a while, so I wonder if the outside is safe as the following silence would suggest, but that sudden deafening rumble made me rethink that scenario… and the health of my eardrums too. Since the panoramic LCD's power is dead, just considering exposing myself to whatever was happening sends shivers down my spine: a FranXX's interior is one of the safest places you can be and opening the hatch can be a fatal mistake, so my hand hangs motionless above the lever while I concentrate on my ears to try to pick up any noise from outside.

"Come on, it stopped already. Open up, I want to see!"

I startle as a small hand insistently pushes me from behind… so I sigh.

"…Ok, then."

I guess it's time to throw caution to the wind and get a view of what's happening outside. I plant my knee down and grab with both hands the glowing orange T-lever. With a snap, I tug at it with all my force and my body weight shifts sideways as a help. The mechanism detaches with a «Clack!» and the lever comes off from the base it was lodged into. Following that, a high-pitched pressure discharge from the door's hydraulic mechanism fizzles into a bass tone. As the sound disperses, the LCD panels embedded into the FranXX panoramic screen releases forward, coming off in the shape of the opening ever so slightly, letting a rim of light into the cockpit's twilight.

"Well… Stuck?" I ask, puzzled, as I have never had the 'pleasure' of using the emergency lever.

"I don't know… push maybe?"

I follow the advice, planting my hands onto the LCD panels connected to the door and pushing it forward. To my full relief, the frame inclines ever so slowly, letting in rays of dusty light into the cockpit accompanied by an intense burnt and suffocating smell. I cringe in fatigue but keep levering the thick reclining door with my body weight, managing to open it up a little more. It's with displeasure that, looking through the small door opening, I realize that the entire front face of Delphinium is blocked by concrete rubble - no wonder the door's so heavy.

After quite a bit of pushing, I can see glimpses of a bright, dusty outside. As the door reclines past forty-five degrees, a bright light forcefully blinds my eyes as I keep tugging. In the end, I jump on it to force it horizontal and steel steps pop up from below the entrance as the door levels with crumbling sounds. It's thanks to our luck we landed almost level with the ground, because there would be massive problems in even letting some oxygen in… Well, right now the air feels heavy and coarse like breathing magma fuel anyways.

My overexposed eyes slowly adapt to the light. All around Delphinium, an extremely tall and wide circular rock chasm filled with rubble meets my view: gigantic tilted concrete columns in the distance were towering a sea of trashed metal sheets and rocks that composed the walls of the complex, mixed with deep brown earth and spurts of magma fuel coloring everything around them in a glowing orange hue. That landscape formed quite foggy but shiny hills in every direction, interspersed by disjointed and crumpled metal railings climbing towards the top of the chasm like leftover roots of an uprooted tree, casting erratic shadows down below into the sea of rubble. Looking around, I can see swirls of dust kicking up at the small landslides still being triggered in the distance and, more importantly, no sign of the enormous Star Entity.

It couldn't have disappeared from thin air. Did it explode? Why didn't the earth explode with it? Are we… dead? No, wait. This doesn't make any sense. But… where did Star Entity go?

Pulling me out of my daze, the sound of high heels on metal resound from my right side. I turn my head to see a small, blue-haired girl with a slanted bob cut and long bangs pinned to her left temple by a white metal hairpin shaped like a bird. She came walking to my side with a smile on her face. A small body with a slender frame adorned by a tiny chest clothed in a skin-tight body-printed white jumpsuit with blue inserts, a large white shoulder collar made of white polymer holding an LCD screen with full heels on her feet and a folded command interface just below her waist. Her hand passes on her small forehead to wipe the sweat produced by the very difficult situation we were literary and figuratively thrown into, brushing onto her long and thin eyebrows and eyelashes hanging over her deep emerald eyes, petite nose and thin mouth.

Ichigo.

"Looks like we did it!" She cheers while looking around the surrounding desolation.

"Seems like it, but… Where is Star Entity?"

"Ah! Well…" She briefly scans the place again at a loss. She looks up, and suddenly her index finger shoots upwards. "AH! Look! Up there!"

"Uh…? OH, WOW!" Aided by her clue, I raise my nose upwards and recoil in surprise after seeing past the crumpled hanging catwalks. First, I find a bright and clear blue sky instead of the oppressing black clouds I met at the start of the operation and second, a gigantic white and red FranXX-like mech slowly ascending in the air, accompanied by countless gleaming blue dots.

"They did it… They really did it!" I cheer throwing my fist in the air, happy that we won this difficult battle.

"Yes!" Ichigo jumps upwards, hands in the air. "Ah-ahaha! No, we all did it! We've saved Earth, Goro!"

I admire her blue hair dancing at his jump and shining like her smile. So blissful. It was all worth it just to see her like this again.

"Yeah!" I nod.

Ichigo lands on her feet and lets out a drawn-out sigh, but then bends down to the ground, aggravated by sudden, fast and unsteady breathing.

"Oi, what's wrong?" I worriedly ask her.

"Huff… huff… whew! Just a bit tired. We were going at it for hours… I'm going to sit down for a bit…" She brushes it off, then she slowly helps herself down on her knees on the horizontal door, to then spread on her side with a beat-up expression.

"Well, you got that right for me too, Ichigo." I say, realizing how sluggish my body feels. I sit down on my own to slowly tilt backwards on my back, spreading myself on the metal of the door with my arms behind my head as cushion. Slowly, the circle around my temples disappears and my muscles start regaining a bit of tone. Driving a FranXX is extremely taxing on the body, so it's normal that after so many hours of driving we would feel tired.

I just can't shake off the danger we're still in, though. When we abandoned our post to search for Strelitzia, we also left a raging battle where a violet horde of humanoid mechanical monsters fell onto the battling forces. Now our mech is literally on top of a VIRM unit that followed us and tried to maul us to death: we managed to protect Dr. FranXX and Zero Two accessing the Star Entity entry port by throwing ourselves in desperation into a chasm at the border of the gigantic mech, dragging that thing with us.

Freefalling towards the bottom of the chasm… I thought I would die with Ichigo this time around, but fortunately, the thing cushioned us. Shocked by the impact and crushed by the weight of Delphinium, we manage to pierce at least one of our twin piledrivers into the monster's body before our FranXX passed out… If we hadn't, we would also be dead. But our luck aided us, and Zero Two managed to enter Star Entity and somehow stop the countdown to self-destruction.

Looking back, that was… Whoa!

"Goro, do you think Hiro and Zero Two are still in Star Entity?" Ichigo asks looking upwards, her head cradled by her arms, pulling me out from my thoughts.

I look upwards to the sky to see the white vapor trail that the gleaming robot has left upon exiting the atmosphere. I almost can't distinguish it anymore, having become a white dot in the sky.

"I guess…Yes? Wasn't Strelitzia embedded in it to pilot it?"

"Yeah. But where are they going? Why are they not helping at the battlefield?"

That's a very legitimate question. Why acquire a megaweapon to then just leave like that? I guess it has something to do with the things that Hachi mentioned before the escort operation.

"Beats me. Are they going to engage the…? What did Hachi call them… S-Starships?"

"Hm. What are starships?" Ichigo asks away.

"Ships were for travelling in water, so maybe… those travel among the stars?" I say embarrassingly. I can't know everything, I'm just wildly guessing.

"Wow, that's romantic."

"Hm? Why?" That was hardly romantic, I think. Isn't space a lethal void anyways?

"Hiro always liked the stars. In the Garden, he would always read constellation pictures from the astrology books and he knew the constellation names by heart. I wonder how he feels now, being closer to the stars that he has ever been…"

Ah.

"Sure! He always had his nose between the pages of a book. One time, he even ticked a caretaker off having snuck a big one outside the library in the dining room! I was like 'Hiro, are you gonna eat that, too?', then an Adult charged into us like a bull!"

"Yeah! Ahahahaha! I remember that!" Ichigo thrills in a relieved laughter. "He got a long-winded scolding that time! It was like, one of the last copies of some animal picture book, wasn't it?"

"Yeah! He didn't like rules that much, did he?"

"Nope!"

Ichigo fidgets her hair with her hand clad in her jumpsuit's gloves, looking up in the sky.

"It's because of him that we've come this far."

"…"

Indeed. He has always been upfront and had a word for each one of us. He knew a lot of things and wanted to know even more, always driven by his curiosity. He could read people like books, too… I admire him for that quality of his. He knows what you feel and tells you what you need to hear, always caring and having a word for when you felt down. With time, he helped us to think for ourselves and to come to the conclusion that we needed to stand up for ourselves to build a life of our own, without Papa and his… horrible rules.

He's one of my dearest friends, after all.

"I hope he's fine and comes back quickly… We need him... In the field." Ichigo says contrivedly.

"Yeah…"

I turn my head to the side to find Ichigo's forlorn gaze directed upwards, following Star Entity's white trail plunging in the immense blue like a dash of white paint drawn from a brush.

You're still the same… Ichigo.

I wait in silence for some time, then break the silence passing to another topic. "What do you think about what the Princess and Papa said?"

Ichigo turns to my gaze and opens her wordless mouth, only to wander her lost eyes around. After a moment, she comes back to me. "…VIRM."

"Yeah, Papa… and those things." I say pointing my thumb to the violet thing behind us.

"Why would Papa turn back on us? I mean… don't get me wrong, I'd like him to get in a ditch and die, but… siding with aliens? Why? Why suddenly ask help from them?"

I seriously exclude the possibility that he would have done that.

"No… Didn't they just try to blow up the Earth and us humans with it? I mean, why ask… help from those things? Weren't we winning anyway? Could it be that, because we lost Star Entity, they suddenly switched sides? It doesn't make any sense. I think Papa was tricked by those… aliens."

Ichigo shakes her head at a loss.

"I just… don't understand anything anymore. Where did they come from? …Space?"

"I guess, since they have starships…"

"And… The Klaxxosaurs had starships too and fought them in the past. When did they…? Our books or at lessons never said anything about VIRM and the war between them…"

"Well, maybe humanity doesn't know. Then, they retreated inside the planet and… waited silently, as the princess said." I try to fit the pieces the best I can, but as I finish the sentence, I can't shake off the sensation that it sounds completely nuts.

"Princess…" Ichigo says pensively. "Do you think there's a king and a queen too?"

"Well, I don't know."

"According to Kokoro's book, there should be…"

"Ah! Did you read it?"

"No, she just told us what she got from it. The Nines already stole it."

"Oh, yeah… so it was already too late. I wonder what it told!" I ask Ichigo out of curiosity, and she blushes a little on the cheeks.

"N-nothing too important." She waves me off, a little on the ropes.

"Hm, I see." She's always been a bad liar! But pushing the same button insistently is a no-no for her, so let's ask something else.

"Thinking about Klaxxosaurs… we were stomping on their kingdom all along." I reflect a bit. "I guess they weren't that happy about it, about us stealing… The magma and the cores from underground."

"Yeah. and our Delphinium… is made from a Klaxxosaur." Ichigo says with a deadpan tone.

"Ah. That…" At that worrisome statement, my voice hangs in the air as my gaze falls to the ground. Apparently, we had the revelation that our FranXX is a Klaxxosaur repurposed for humans to pilot, and until then we knew nothing of that. That thought was extremely alienating: the place where Ichigo and I connected our minds together was revealed as something very different than what I thought. It felt almost like a part of myself betrayed me and became something foreign, hostile.

"To me, that changes nothing. It's OUR Delphinium, the same one that we've driven 'till now." Ichigo decisively declares to me. "It has always been something special to me. And you're my partner, Goro!" She lifts from her side and shouts pointing at me with a very serious attitude. "The BEST partner, Goro!"

Wow! You're very forward today! And, of course, completely right. It doesn't matter where our FranXX comes from. Even for me, it has always been the place where our minds, our lives and our destinies were embedded and intertwined into… So, I want to declare from my heart something that has been stuck in my chest from too much time.

"…You're right. It's the most special thing in my life…" But my feelings don't end there. They go deeper than this. "…And you are, too. I couldn't live without you."

Ichigo's hard expression melts at my declaration, taken completely by surprise. She blushes vigorously as her sure-of-herself attitude crumbles in pieces and starts fidgeting with her fingers. After a moment, she recomposes beaming a reddish smile to me.

"I… Thanks, Goro. That was… beautiful to hear."

"No problem. Anytime." I say smiling back.

"Hehehe!" She chuckles while bringing her gaze away in the distance, fixing it somewhere while focusing her mind elsewhere. With extreme satisfaction I do the same, stretching my arms behind the back of my head on the clean metal of the door. Admiring the dust swirls up above, I feel the air much cleaner thanks to the air currents rushing to fill the now open-air chasm. My chest goes up and down in relaxed long breaths while I follow the vapor trail of Star Entity's curving and tapering into a thin point, smaller and smaller in the high sky.

Why didn't I do this earlier? Am I a moron? Well, just a tiny bit. I kind of already told her, but this time it's a bit different. Around the time of the explosive Klaxxosaur I was… vague. I threw the word 'Love' around too freely, without knowing what it really meant. And by that, I mean what «deeply» meant. I've had some time to think about it, so it's time to apply yourself, boy!

The wind howls at the bottom of the newly formed wide canyon, bringing a warm pre-summer feel. Even with the echoed sound of the various rock landslides in the distance, I just imagine it's like that day at the beach, the warm sun hitting my face through my glasses while the sound of the ocean's waves washing on the sandy shore… That day, it was so blissful, free of any weight and responsibility, detached from the horror of this war, the fear of the enemy, the sorties, the klaxxosaurs, the adults, Papa… I wish I would be in that place again. With also 200% more swimsuit Ichigo.

Slowly but surely, after daydreaming for a while, my mind returns once again to my real surroundings and goes into stress, feeling like a hefty weight is placed on my temples. Way to ruin a perfect moment, Goro. Well… I guess we don't have to wait for Hiro to return to evaluate our situation, as every second we pass here without fuel is one where we're not able to defend ourselves. What happens if one of those VIRM soldiers comes over to search for his missing friend?

"I hope Argentea, Genista and Chlorophytum are fine." I say while getting up from a sitting position, feeling my muscles still a little slumped.

"They better be! Otherwise I will be furious!" Ichigo interjects, showing a frown.

"Oh. Being showered with worry by our magnanimous and thoughtful team leader sure is hard!" I jokingly jab at her, thinking I'd rather fight a thousand VIRMs than put up with her bad side.

"S-Shut up, Goro!" She pouts, jolting upwards and inflating her cheeks like an owl and staring me down with her eyes squeezed. "I really mean it!"

"I worry too, but I'm sure they are fine." I explain while stretching my legs and arms, preparing to get myself up on my feet. "Trust them. We're the lucky ones, since we were the ones about to go empty mid-fight. I don't need to say what would have happened then."

"…W-What if they did go empty before us?"

"Ichigo… don't think about it. For now…" I launch myself forward in a squat, then I pull myself up and turn towards the cockpit, clearing over the door's frame while explaining. "…I'm gonna call Hachi to give our situation report, ask what's happening around us and request evac. After that, I will ask for our squad's status."

"..." Ichigo nods at me while tracking me with her worried gaze.

Going happy-go-lucky is one of the worst approaches to hard decisions, after depressing yourself. For this reason, I must contact Hachi and tell him about our predicament, not without first shedding some light about the battle around us since he's the acting Commander of the mission. Doing so, we might stand a chance of returning all in one piece from this hell of a situation and dispel our worries about our squad. We left them when we were engaging the VIRM soldiers on our tail to rush forward and complete the mission as fast as possible and we haven't heard back from them since.

Entering the cockpit, I circumvent the central interface to proceed to my post, an open seat to the back of the room. I slide onto the seat's puffy cushion and look at the side of it, where I find a see-through small openable panel. Inside it, I hit one of many physical switches labelled by tiny engraved letters saying: «Backup Power».

Lights all around the cockpit flash on with a bass hum vibrating its frame. A tiny laser button keyboard appears on the transparent panel's top, that I close back shut. After tapping a laser button on it, a blue holographic screen appears hovering above the surface of the unlit panoramic screen straight in front of me, accompanied by a holographic keyboard with a full key layout wrapping around my left side like a hook in front of me. Keeping my hands suspended above the keyboard, I type out the call command to the mission's high command.

The black holoscreen morphs into a blue «Outgoing call…» with the elipsis flashing, in silence.

I hope the call pulls through even down here. Instead, the screen shuts off with a «Call failed».

"Damn."

I retype the command, and the screen once again shows an «Outgoing call…» message, this time accompanied by my dearest wishes. I can't waste the auxiliary power like this. This time, after some seconds, the screen fluctuates and a «Online from Gran Crevasse High Command» appears at the bottom of the screen.

"Yes!" I cheer.

"Are you through?" Ichigo asks from outside.

"Yup."

The screen continues to flicker, then a silhouette of an almost bald man stalks on the screen among the gray static noise of the video feed.

"A…w…ffff…fffffffff… can yo-you… rec…v…ffffff…"

"Hachi, I can't hear you. Signal's weak."

"I se-fffff…fff.. swichin..fff… to anoth…er ant…ffffffff…na."

The silhouette moves his hands and a «Redirecting call…» message appears floats on it. Then the screen flickers on resetting the call, and a much clearer but still jaggy image of Hachi filled with static appears.

A bluish brush cut over thin, long and serious eyebrows crowning thin, elongated and expressionless light-brown eyes. Between them a protruding, straight and flat as a board nose towering on his clear olive face and diamond chin and thin mouth, angled in a slight frown. In a gray-to-black skin-tight uniform with golden epaulettes highlighting his thin and fit physique, a red sewn-in short tie hangs below his high neckline. He's Hachi, our field commander.

"Greetings, Code 056."

"Hachi! I'm relieved to see you! Mission completed?"

Hachi's expression rests as he nods slightly forward.

"Yes. We can sign off the mission as successful. Earth is saved."

"Wheeew!" I sigh while abandoning my back against the stamen's seat and the weight on my temples disappears like my brain has fallen out from my head. "It's nice to hear that! While bringing Zero Two and Dr. FranXX at the entrance of Star Entity, we were almost taken down by one of those VIRM units…"

"I see. I wasn't sure myself of the mission's success until the last moment, too. Star Entity was about to explode that the structure around it collapsed."

"I-I guess that's because Zero Two and Dr. Franxx managed to enter the gate, rescue Hiro and pilot the thing."

"Yes, fortunately. By the way, your signal's not optimal, I can't triangulate you. Where is Code 015? Is she uninjured?" Hachi asks away.

"Yessir." Ichigo comes inside, as anticipated by the clapping of her interface heels onto the main deck of the cockpit, walking around the pistil's seat and stopping beside me facing proudly the holographic screen inside the picture of the camera. "Status is ten by ten. Although, our unit Delphinium is not operative and needs immediate support."

"I see. What's your situation?"

"Ehm…" My eyes dangle left and right and eventually meet Ichigo's. After exchanging an embarrassing furtive glance, my eyes shoot away to the side in shame.

"What's the problem?" Hachi presses on, slightly collapsing a brow.

"…Remember the VIRM unit I was referring earlier? We… threw ourselves down the chasm… dragging that thing with us." I shamefully explain.

"Ah-" Hachi freezes on the spot, uttering monotone moans with his mouth open. "Wh-"

"And… we managed to cushion ourselves with it, and then disable it. We're currently out of fuel, on top of said VIRM unit."

Hachi blinks several times, fixating in a daze his dull eyes on my face, as if he were expecting me to utter 'Just kidding!'.

"…On top of…?"

"Yes." Totally on top of it.

Hachi still stares us down flabbergasted, but eventually his eyes blink and his head slightly shakes in order to regain some composure.

"So, repeat to me where you are."

"At the bottom of the chasm where Star Entity was docked, and… I guess close to where the access port was."

"How far down does the chasm go?"

"Quite a long way… maybe kilometers. The walls of the chasm didn't fracture, since it looks like those are made from compressed rock. The surroundings are… mostly a mess of rubble, steel scaffoldings and collapsing ruins." I vaguely explain.

"That's… extremely inconvenient." Hachi slowly articulates, regaining his ability to think. "I guess those are what's left of the complex built around Star Entity. That justifies the disturbed connection. But that's beside the point: how am I supposed to get you out of there?"

Hachi lets his gaze wander for a while, and I follow his eyes bouncing left and right around the screen, maybe looking at others beside the one he's talking through.

"Why? Are there any problems with the rescue teams…?"

Hachi parts his sharp lips, but his voice hesitates to come out from his mouth.

"I… can't manage to contact the ground or aerial support operation center at Bird's Nest."

"Wh-what? What does that mean?"

"I-Is everything all right with Bird's Nest…?"

Even after a full year of being under his command, this is the first time I've seen Hachi as uncollected as this. He would always be calm, stoic and calculating like the embodiment of a commanding figure. Now, his vaguely lost expression lies hidden in plain view under a fake emotionless demeanour, and I feel I'm in turn mirroring his uneasiness.

"This operation is under my responsibility. I hailed ground control and no one's responding while there's no reason why they shouldn't." Hachi promptly recomposes himself while shaking his head at the - I guess to his eyes - absurd situation. "From the data gathered here, Bird's Nest was not attacked… The Gran Crevasse long range communication systems must have collapsed when Star Entity woke up… then, I see no other way. The only option left is to… solve this another way."

"What about the battle? And the rest of my team?" I promptly ask away.

"The battle is dying down. The enemy forces have stopped fighting, from what I can see. I've not yet contacted anyone besides you two. About your teammates, I can still track their movements, so they are probably operational. I'm going to contact them as soon as we end this call."

"Ha…!" Both me and Ichigo exclaim out of relief. "We're glad."

Hachi nods. "The units on the field also need immediate help, so I'm returning to Bird's Nest at once with the means I can manage. As soon as I'm in range, I'll give order to send the rescue teams and coordinate a medivac mission. For now, stay inside the cockpit and switch on your location signal. Since your position is not in range of any landing zone, I'll send out a ground team to your rescue. Just keep your energy consumption low and the signal will remain strong for them to receive."

"Yessir!" Both of us respond in unison.

"Any questions?"

I look into Ichigo's eyes for confirmation, "I guess not. Orders received, sir." she immediately responds.

Hachi's eyes go off focus for a moment, fixating a point outside the screen in a pensive expression. Ultimately, after a brief reflection, he unceremoniously ends the conversation with the same stoicism he greeted us with.

"I'll be off, then. Over."

Hachi's unstable image flickers as the screen switches off, leaving behind a 'Call ended' in light blue letters. It's with a long-drawn-out sigh that I pull my back against the cushions of the stamen's seat and relax my shoulders.

"We're set now. We just need to wait for resupply." I confidently state while summoning once again the keyboard and typing out the command to activate the radio beacon used to mark our FranXX's position. The screen confirms to me 'Locator signal: ACTIVE', so I hit a virtual button on my right, close to the access panel, and the caption changes into 'Safe mode', switching off the keyboard and dimming the cockpit lights so that only the dusty brightness from outside can outline my surroundings. It's with a light fit of uneasiness that this scenery overlaps in my mind's eye with the scenery of the battle we just witnessed.

The disorienting confusion of the air filled with sand and screams… so much screaming that my spine was almost fibrillating at the number of cold shivers that flowed into it. Glowing blue sprays of Klaxxo blood mixed with the orange color of magma fuel from our companions' FranXX, which were crushed left and right amidst the uncontrollable panic of the klaxxosaurs being mauled by the violet mass of the VIRM forces dropping from the sky. Among them, fearful and crying human voices from the comms were begging and calling Papa in vain, then abruptly went silent one by one. In the distance, columns of fire descending from past the black clouds instantly melted everything they landed on - one landed close by, cutting a worm-like klaxxo in half like it was butter, causing it to writhe uncontrollably and scream in unfathomable pain. It was just less than an hour ago when I, Ichigo and my team detached from the defence squads at the base of Gran Crevasse and abandoned that… massacre.

Perhaps unconsciously guided by fear and the desire to run away from that absolute horror, Ichigo ordered our squad to abandon our post and to return inside Gran Crevasse. Acknowledging we didn't have a chance without Star Entity, we went back to investigate what happened to that 'supreme weapon' we were told about, which was supposed to be driven by Zero Two and Hiro on Strelitzia but was then trapped in some sort of cocoon and rigged to explode. Fighting our way back to the command station, it was with shock that we learnt from Dr. FranXX and Hachi that Hiro was abducted by the 'Klaxxo Princess' and Zero Two narrowly survived being thrown out of the cockpit, even if gravely injured. Due to a completely hopeless plan from Dr. FranXX, we helped them reach the access port to the back of Star Entity, but midway we were forced to split into two groups, one to hold back the VIRM attackers and the other, me and Ichigo, to quickly bring the doctor and Zero two to the entrance. So, we did, at nearly the cost of our life.

And now, here we are.

Speaking of 'we', what's Ichigo doing? Glancing to my left, her silhouette is still standing where I left her. After talking with Hachi, she just stood there without a word, immobile like a statue with her head reclined forward. … Is she ok? I shift closer to her, trying to get a good look of her, but her eyes stay nonresponsive even at me bending over to try and decipher her look.

"Ichigo…?" As I call to her, she flinches awake and briefly gives me a frightened look to then divert her gaze away, making me stutter. Those eyes are no good. "Is… everything…?" Her lips clasp shut as she straightens her back trying to look strong, but her hands along her sides give away a slight tremor. Why am I even asking? Nothing's alright! You know you can't hide something like that from me, Ichigo.

"Ichigo, everything is going to be fine." I sport the most confident voice in me possible. "We're going to make it. The battle's over, nothing stands in our way anymore! We are free!" At my retort, she tries to look at me in the eye, but she can't keep her glance straight.

"B-but, what do we do now…? A-and then…? What about Papa, what if he comes back for revenge and…! W-what if the rescuers abandon us here…? I-I'm…" Her unstable voice trills with fear as her shoulders slouch ever so slightly, making her smaller than her tiny frame ever allows.

No, no! Don't be like that, Ichigo! We've not come this close to freedom in our entire lives! We can do this, I'm sure Hachi will return with help and everything will straighten out in the end! There's no avoiding it, just looking at her in this state distresses me to no end. I'm just barely resisting the urge to… touch her and… make her feel that I'm close… I don't want her to feel afraid, I want her to feel safe with me!

"Don't be afraid, Ichigo!" I can't help but shoot up from the seat and grab both of her petite shoulders to affirm my presence onto her. In a wild response, her eyes widen while her mouth comes loose completely taken by surprise by my bold behaviour as my hands hold onto her frame, feeling the shivers and the distress of her muscles. "I'm your partner, I'm here for you, I swear! Even if something goes wrong, I will be with you and we will take care of it! Together we can do everything, remember? This time too!"

Her eyes lock onto mine, still full of a mist of surprise, fear and confusion, but slowly her shoulders come loose and her eyes slowly mellow. As her breath slowly calms, she silently stands there letting my hands steady her body. But then, it's with my surprise that she suddenly launches her arms forward and throws herself onto me embracing my sides with strength. Completely thrown off by her, I slowly reciprocate by wrapping my arms around her bust, to pull her closer to my body and to lay my cheek onto her bluish hair as she lays hers onto my chest breastplate. Even past our suits made of carbon and the stiffness of her collar interface, I can feel the inebriating warmth of her body and the contact of her delicate skin onto mine. In response, my heart goes wild and my mind goes almost blank. Is this what Hiro and Zero Two felt?

Is this… how it feels like when you embrace someone… you love?

"Goro… thank you."

I cannot respond, as I'm absolutely, completely cathartic. The only motion I can afford is my left hand caressing her back. Nothing more. I just want to stay like this forever. Seconds, maybe minutes pass and our embrace doesn't seem to cease. We just stand there, our bodies against each other with our eyes closed while protecting against the cold air coming from the cockpit's entrance and hiding ourselves from the dim light coming from the unknown outside. I want so strongly, with every inch of myself, to be with her forever.

Then, a whimper.

"Ichigo?" I detach my cheek from her head and see a single tear descending onto her face. What's… happening? Another one, falling straight into the soft blue padding of her collar. And another… She detaches from me immediately as she realizes I'm staring at her and tries to cover her eyes in shame. "Why…?"

"I'm… I'm… sorry…" She scuttles backwards, almost like she wants to fade away. While covering her teary emerald eyes, she runs past me clapping her unstable heels onto the cockpit's frame to quickly runs past the cockpit's door. She just plumps down on the reclined door of Delphinium's face while holding her knees tight with both her arms and burying in head in between, still crying and giving me her back.

I try to reach for her, but my hand stops mid-air with my throat lumped. Just as I couldn't speak before, now I can't say anything either, but this time, my chest feels like… a big cave-in just collapsed inside it. Is this… my fault? Did I do something wrong? Did I hurt her? How…?

No, it's not like that.

I fall back onto the stamen's seat as waves of anxiety take me. I know perfectly well what this is, I don't need to lie to myself. This is not just about me and her, there's someone else that she cares about more than me, and I can't do anything about it. But… nonetheless, I won't stop. I'm sure that if I keep trying hard enough, I can become someone that she cares that much about, too. I know that there's a place for me. I'm sure of it.

Now, if only my chest would stop hurting, and my mind would stop thinking…

…

* * *

…

Mute tapping sounds echo in the unlit status room next to the base of the mass access elevator of Gran Crevasse spanning several kilometers from the surface. Alone, sitting on an egg-type roller chair and bent over onto the black surface of the long and slanted command console, a tall man with a buzz cut in a formal futuristic officer jumpsuit frantically taps onto the bleeding orange fonts and graphs that rapidly morph and flicker on the terminal.

After a last decisive tap on the keyboard, the megascreen mounted on the top of the console refreshes and a bright orange map of the Gran Crevasse human base comes onscreen, casting an unnatural hue onto the cracked tiled walls of the room. On top of it, the caption 'PERFORMING SYSTEM DIAGNOSTICS…' intermittently flashes while countless small windows appear all around the circular map displaying a fast stream of bright red monospace error messages. One by one, the main sections of the map turn red at the center, orange at the borders with some green external parts at the outskirts of the complex. After nodding slightly, he inputs further commands and a reticule appears onto the green part of the complex, zooming in on the single details of the section.

"Do you still work…?" Hachi questions the screen.

After some more tapping, the bidimensional map transforms into a 3D projection of a cylindrical well connecting the outside with a single long tunnel cutting into Gran Crevasse. At the bottom of the vertical tube labelled 'Heavy duty access elevator' lies a solitary room with a 'You are here' placed into it. To the side of the picture appears a long list of green entries detailing the still functioning systems and a stable graph giving a positive reading of its power grid.

"Good, at least I can leave this place."

Hachi sighs briefly, then rolls the chair over another part of the console, where his fingers once again slide onto its black smooth surface to bring up a long list of orange contacts. With a flick of the index, the digital entries quickly flip through the screen until the finger stops at the entry labelled 'UNIT ∷ ARGENTEA'. It's after a decisive tap on it that the status description of the mech unit appears: cryptic codes, oscillating graphs and a ParaCapacity level visualizers flash onto the console's surface, accompanied by a black framed camera feed with a wildly fluctuating mess of gray pixels.

"Well, that's what I have to work with."

Slowly, after some flickering, the black window reveals a mute, static-filled real-time feed of the FranXX cockpit while being piloted. From the aerial camera's view comes into sight a scrawny kid with brown unkempt hair in a deep-blue jumpsuit yanking the controls attached to his pistil, a red headed girl with twintails, completely unaware of being watched. On the internal walls of the cockpit, the projection of the outside view shows the duo tending to a sitting white and violet FranXX, accompanied by another black one with a tall cap and a bulky appearance. Tapping onto the image, a menu appears to the side and Hachi presses the call button and instantly the camera switches to the side of the cockpit, at the surprise of the stamen who jumps on his seat.

"H-huh‼ Hachi!" The stamen shouts with an uncouth voice while recognizing his commander-in-chief's figure abruptly appearing on his side on a holoscreen.

"Greetings, Code 666. What's your status?"

"W-we've got an injured here!" He frantically points towards the white and violet mech. "Ik- ehm, Code 196 is not feeling well!"

"I can see that. Does Chloropythum need medical attention?"

"I-I don't think so, I mean…"

"Can they move?"

"Yessir! I think…"

"Then, priority task to all the remaining squad members capable of moving their mech: return immediately to the high mass elevator."

"Aaah? What…?" An incredulous, robotic voice of a girl suddenly exclaims out of nowhere from the comms. "What about Delphinium? What about Star Entity?"

"We made it, the battle's over." Hachi announces without hesitation, but his voice urges onwards with an upbeat version of his usual monotone. "I've got an urgent communication for Bird's Nest air controller. I must give the all clear for the support units to begin the MedEvac operation as it's my duty, but the long-range antennas of the base are not functioning properly. To solve this problem, the plan is to get to the surface and use the high-powered antenna integrated in your FranXX so I can relay the order. This is of the utmost importance. Adding a waypoint to your navigational computer."

"Y-yes…" The boy bats his eyes in surprise at Hachi's unusual, but mesmerizing machinegun-like verbosity and only the breaking of Hachi's relentless eye contact unlocks him from his daze. Having given the commands to send the coordinates to the unit, Hachi once again glances at the young pilot.

"…Here. About your teammates… I just contacted Delphinium and they are uninjured, but their unit requires a fuel resupply immediately. As soon as you come here, I'll explain the rest. Be quick, the units on the field can't wait for much longer either, there are many injured stamens and pistils that need immediate assistance. You're the acting squad leader until Delphinium is recovered."

The boy's eyes and mouth widen dramatically at the surprise title he's been given on the spot but, after realizing the gravity of his task, he boldly straightens himself in a formal and proper salute. "Ye-yessir! We'll be there as soon as possible!"

Hachi nods, "I'll be seeing you shortly, then. Over.", as the communication switches off. Hachi silently stares at the internal cockpit video feed of the boy returning with extreme glee to his controls distorting into a mess of pixels, until disappearing into a 'Signal lost'.

Hachi keeps staring at the static on the screen for a minute until his hands cup onto his mouth and his elbows shift onto the console, slumping his back forward with a brief sigh. He knows that in this emergency he's walking on a razor's edge and his decisions, if managed improperly, can have horrible consequences on the ones under him. It's in these moments that he would expect to feel something more, but instead there's only the usual vague mist of something amiss, an unexpressed animosity without name, a slight unconscious pressure. With all those things happening in a short span of time, another person would have collapsed under the anxiety, but not him. His mind was made… different. Very much so.

"There must be something more I can do."

His eyes lose focus as his mind conjures up various possibilities and scenarios: the battle, the injured, Star Entity…

"The doctor." Hachi suddenly jumps from his chair. "Is he fine…?" His hands launch once again onto the console, selecting the personnel tracker and searching his contact on a similar list to the one previously checked. He left the doctor to be transported by Delphinium's team, and Code 056 did mention delivering him at the access port of Star Entity, but that was all. After he reached the weapon, did he manage to survive the collapse of the base? The main console screen now flashes with a planimetry of the base with a 'Searching…' caption accompanied by a rotating progress icon. After a moment, the caption changes to 'Target not found'.

"Of course, there's no way there's enough signal to reach his tracker." Normally, a VIP like the doctor wouldn't be this close to the front lines. Actually, the entire Gran Crevasse complex was evacuated days prior to Star Entity's awakening and left managed by the automated systems until the aftermath. The only human staff left on the station was supposed to be him, acting as tactical commander-in-chief for the forces on the ground, but the Seven Sages ruled that the presence of the Doctor was a necessity to have the chance of successful activation closer to 100% as possible. Still, Hachi wishes for the Doctor to be safe until the arrival of the rescue teams, relieved by the fact that all around the complex there are kinetic-resistant emergency pods ready to use.

"Ok, ok. Now… rescue operations." You don't just call aerial rescuers and expect them to do all the work in the world. They consist of large transports of medical equipment and staff, engineers and drones to crack open the cockpits of the busted units and that's all. They can't delve into the carcasses of the enemies because they lack heavy lifting capability and, more importantly, they need a landing zone to get situated. An LZ too far away is useless because of the long travel time, and one close by is impracticable because of the danger of stragglers and the lack of space. But… in the right conditions, Hachi thinks that arranging a close LZ is still possible. And that would be the task of the ground forces, the FranXX.

"I need to contact the surviving units on the battleground- but first…" His mind is dead set on an option that is the only logical one in that situation, and his fingers once again slide over the contact list of the ground forces, but this time in order to close it. Aiding himself pushing on the lid of the desk, Hachi rolls his chair to the other side of the console where a control terminal used for controlling drones lights up. After some more tapping on the screen, a list of unmanned observation drones pops up, but its entries suddenly paint red, making Hachi frown slightly.

"Mhn- all downed. What about the meteorological ones?" A more populated list appears, and more red drones are listed except for three green solitary ones. "Gotcha. They are a bit far, but at least their antennas are online." He selects the first one and its navigational data appears on the giant screen, along with a wide view of its turret camera.

Suddenly, Hachi gets up from his chair and rolls it to the side pushing it against the backrest. With it out of the way, he walks to the center of the room facing the physical main screen. His eyes stare one at a time at its two integrated side cameras that silently exchange his gaze as if they had a life of their own. Hachi then straightens his back and raises both his arms level to the floor pointing his index fingers at them.

«Beep!»

After the brief sound prompt, his indexes light up in an orange glow. Then, in a controlled motion, Hachi opens his palms and shows them to the cameras spreading his fingers apart. Another sound plays for confirmation after which, on each of his hands, a holographic orange reticule shrouds his fingers accompanied by a holoscreen locked at the side of his wrists.

«Full Gesture Interface active», a profound electronic male voice announces as the lights of the room dim, with the monitors remaining the only light source available. Hachi's hands move with controlled precision as his fingers and thumb make the gesture of grabbing the screen's corners. As he drags his hands apart, the drone's video feed pops up from the physical monitor and enlarges doubling in size while floating in mid-air in front of him. After that, his arms level once again in front of him and his fingers form an L-shape, which touch each other lighting up blue. In a single motion, Hachi parts both arms and the holoscreen enlarges and distorts into a sphere, shrouding him in a 360° projection of what the drone was currently filming.

Hachi rests his hands along his sides. Now, instead of being in a dark tiled room, he's floating several kilometers in the air from the vast, earthen deserts overlooking Gran Crevasse. Apart from the slight jitter due to the altitude currents fighting with the drone's rotors, a crisp and clear bird's-eye view of the complex appears before his eyes. A completely dead landscape filled with droughted earth mixed with fine red sand and interspersed with blades of eroded rocks expands in every direction. At quite the distance from the drone, the terrain's jagged features culminate into a tall mountain capped by a kilometer-wide exploded dome. In concentric circles around the complex tower the melted or disabled Klaxxosaur's orbital defences consisting of, from what appeared when they were alive, giant plasma casters that returned fire to VIRM's invading fleet. Between those, lies immobile an unending blue and violet river made of dead Klaxxosaurs and VIRM units circling the entire complex.

"What…is that?" In a fit of surprise, Hachi squints his eyes towards a single earthen-brown empty spot among the sea of carcasses. Considering the utter chaos that ensued in the battlefield, it seemed extremely improbable that a perfect circle excavated itself between the corpses by sheer chance. That was surely an anomaly… quite the odd one.

Hachi points to that strange spot with his index and a reticule appears in front of the finger, from which he makes a frame gesture and parts his hands diagonally. The picture zooms extremely fast like following an arrow through the air and stops just above the landmark, showing it was a truly perfect circle made of… Klaxxosaurs and… wait a moment.

"What went on there…?", Hachi asks himself in disbelief. And that question was clearly warranted, because the carcasses outlining the circle weren't arranged like that by themselves but were literally mauled and gorged as if they were triturated in a blender. The open space measures at least half a kilometer in diameter and, on top of that, shows completely tidy and immaculate ground - the problem is that we're talking about mechs hundreds of meters tall weighing a thousand tons, so one look at those behemoths would tell you the earth couldn't simply remain intact. Instead, at the center of said space lies a single human FranXX unit, in particular a mass-produced one, solitarily half-kneeling against its long orange spear planted down in the ground and held high. Tragically immobile, the mech has the presence and the solemnity of a defeated warrior in a won battle, similar to the ones depicted in those monuments that humanity used to dedicate to the wars of the old world. Hachi is rendered utterly speechless at that sight. Flicking his wrist onto the FranXX, a nametag appears next to it.

'Unit: Solidago'

It has a star next to it, meaning it's a team leader unit. Hovering on his wrist, the holographic display updates and shows the data of said unit, still completely operational and with an hour of fuel left. Even just the presence of that information indicates that the low-power antennas all around the complex are still functional.

"Good." Hachi notices its battered armor and wonders about the status of the crew. Dragging his fingers aside, the display shifts to the FranXX's remote controls. Using these, Hachi switches to the internal camera and the scene shifts inside of the cockpit. Or at least it should be, because complete darkness suddenly engulfs him. The unit is fine and the crew's life metrics are nominal, so what's up with this? Why are they in…

"Sniff- augh- sniff…"

Hachi freezes on the spot. A muffled but painful sobbing noise of a girl plays from the audio feed among the tomb-like silence of the cockpit. Unable to get a clear vision of what happened, he fumbles with the controls on his wrist and increases the exposure of the camera. A white hue washes the image and reveals two silhouettes, one abandoned on the stamen's seat grabbing his head and the other lying in a fetal position between the pistil's seat and the panoramic screen. Hachi lets his mouth hang open, unsure of what to do. Of course, they're… shocked about the battle, aren't they…? Nevertheless, Hachi needs their help immediately, so he turns on the communicator on sound only and starts to talk.

"Unit Solidago. Commander on air, requesting status."

Hachi's lapidary request jerks the stamen from his torpor, who slowly reaches blindly for the control panel and, after some groping around, switches the main light on. Suddenly, Hachi's eyes squint uncomfortably as they are assaulted from the bright overexposure of the camera, making him reach once again to dial down the settings on his wrist. The stifled light reveals a relatively tall boy, maybe 17 or so, with curly black hair on a square jawed face and straight nose, not showing injuries of any sort over his dark blue body-printed overalls ranging from the neck to his interface boots. Only detail out of the ordinary were his bloodshot and teary brown eyes, grabbing Hachi's attention while wandering to the side to meet the 'Voice only' holoscreen at his right.

"This… is… Code… 371. Team… leader…" He fumbles his own words in a chocked voice while his thin eyebrows squint uncontrollably. Then, his wide lower lip tremble as he forces a gulp down and resumes his still unstable voice. "Ahn… Team leader of… Squad 103. Condition nominal… s-suffered… minimal… dam…" The boy grasps his mouth fighting a gag, then resumes with a small tear crossing his cheek. "…damage."

That's… not true. Hachi takes a moment to size him up properly, because no one in their right mind would say 'minimal damage' at that sorry spectacle- why even give a false report in that situation. Did they suffer from strain feedback, since they are… probably responsible for their surroundings? Actually, the thing is that they wouldn't know if… well, never mind, whatever happened, it's not important now.

"Received. Just a reminder, if the crew is injured, perform first aid immediately. Physical health is a strict requirement to drive a FranXX unit." Hachi regards him stoically. "When you're ready, I have a task for you. While scanning the area, I've found that the clearing around you is suitable for a landing zone for the MedEvac and Unit recovery. Since the support will be inbound shortly, I ask of your squad to help with the evacuation, give aid to the downed units and regroup all their crews at your position with adequate first aid support."

"Y-ye-yessir…", the stamen responds with less voice than before. The boy starts to look around almost in a panicked state, with his eyes wide open and his breath taking over like his lungs are trying to escape through his throat. The pistil girl, still rolled on her side giving the camera her back, starts sobbing silently and shuddering with her hands on her face covered by her wavy goldenrod hair. Hachi glances at both, then realizes something's amiss. Something critical _he_ missed about the situation.

"…What's your squad's status…?"

The golden-haired girl's sobs transform into high-pitched howls, "Ihhhgh- hic - ihigghh… ihigghh…" as her voice starts to morph into a lament of pure pain. The boy's face, among his companion's chilling screams, crumbles and contorts with pure guilt as tears start streaming down his cheeks.

"T-they… are d-dead… All… of… 'em…"

Hachi freezes on the spot, as if washed by a cold shower, as the boy abandons once again on his seat and drops his gaze to the floor to try to wipe off his tears with little to no effect. His mind was taken by the words the boy said to him, so his eyes bounce back and forth between the two young parasites afflicted by their painful mourning. After his mind recovers from a mist of confusion, his mouth opens compelled by a vague urge to say something, anything in order to console them.

But his voice wouldn't come out.

To his surprise, he couldn't think of anything to say, bringing more and more confusion to his head. He just didn't catch up to the fact that, before being soldiers, they are young children, and they just survived the most difficult battle of their lives. He had been so focused on Star Entity and the sudden emergency of its capture, leading to an eventual destruction of Earth, that he left unattended the forces on the ground. He left them to their fate both as commander and as caretaker. It was the most he could do in that situation, and he knew that: if he had the chance to redo it, he would choose to do the same. In that moment he had to choose between the destruction of Earth and the FranXX squads on the field, so he chose the former. He felt to do what was… logical at that time.

Now, confronted with his own choice, he feels completely worthless. But his chest doesn't bulge or despair. It's not that he doesn't want to care about what happens in front of him, quite the contrary. Hachi is witnessing their pain and acknowledging it in his mind, but he ultimately doesn't understand what they're going through. Because… since he was born, his mind was made different.

Throughout his life, he wouldn't know what a smile or a tear meant.

Looking at those two young parasites on the brink of despair, he really wants to find those words that would make them feel better, give them hope for the future and give them the strength to pull through that giant hurdle. But, in the depths of his empty heart, he can't find words fitting the purpose, so he curses himself in silence. He may be the best field commander of humanity, but that doesn't amount to anything if he can't do the things that matter to him the most. As those thoughts cross his mind, he finally resigns himself to his uselessness.

"I'm sorry."

Those simple words mostly pointed out his failure as a caretaker, but in that situation, they had a bigger effect than he thought possible. The boy and the girl slowly stopped crying, leaving just a trail of grave breathing and a forlorn atmosphere misting the silence of the cockpit. After a while, the stamen sits back properly and wipes his face, this time revealing a gaze in acceptance of the situation.

"It's not your fault, commander." After saying so, he gets up from the seat and slowly moves over to his companion, grabs her shoulder and shakes it gently. "Come on, we've got a task…" he softly tells her, but the girl lies still on the floor, unresponsive, so the boy keeps shaking. "We've gotta do it…" he keeps whispering.

"I don't wanna…" the girl protests in her strained voice. "It's too much…"

"We owe 'em… to not be abandoned here…"

"Sniff- Ehhh…" the girl groans in protest, but then lifts her shoulder from the cold steel of the cockpit's floor and gets herself sitting with the help of her stamen sustaining her by her side. She reflexively lies the side of her head on his breast plate, giving away the desire of wanting to stay like that. "…Just a moment, ok…?"

The stamen looks around to see he's not being watched, then drags her closer. Hachi sees the scene unnoticed, as he's connected to an internal camera without giving away his presence. And, most importantly, without letting out a word. His mind is fighting very hard not to interrupt them consciously, as his professionality would have reprimanded that unlawful and unwarranted physical contact on the spot. But, in that situation, Hachi thinks that it's his own shortcoming that created that situation in the first place, so he'll… allow it. For now.

"I'll be unavailable for a time. I'll be contacting you shortly. Don't leave antenna range and… keep safe."

"Yessir." both parasites respond in unison. Hachi glances at his wrist and the command screen pops up again and switches off the audio communication. Seeing that both are still in each other's arms, he shifts the view outside the FranXX wanting to give them some privacy…

"Thinking more about it, Papa and his rule are most likely gone." Hachi makes a note in his head that he will have to get in touch with the rest of the officers and persuade them of the situation, most likely giving a copy of the telemetry data from the battle with the video feeds and a battle report attached. Scratching his chin, his mind is dead set on the mission he's been waiting to accomplish all this time. At that thought, the strange sensation on his chest subsides just a little bit, the right amount to signal that life onwards will not be the same. After clapping his hands twice, the wraparound immersive screen and the holographic hand interface disappear and the black room with the shining orange console returns to the eye.

"If not, I will make sure of that."

…

* * *

 **Beneath a blue sky - END**

* * *

...


	3. CHAPTER 3 :: Battlefield

...

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 **Battlefield**

* * *

...

Deep down underground, close to the border of the earth's crust, spans the massive and dark service corridors of the underground complex of Gran Crevasse. A maze of interleaving dark hallways separated by control rooms, unloading bays, reactors and orange fuel tanks, all devoid of a single human soul. Save for one, where a relentless hammering echoes from behind a tall hydraulic steel door close shut between two sections of a magnetic rail system made for transport. What seem like heavy metal footsteps slowly get louder and louder at the other side of the blast door. Suddenly, a robotic laughter vibrates the walls.

"AHAHAHA! I've made it! I'm the team leader! Did you hear everyone- TEAM LEADER!"

"What are you on about!?"

"SUPREME TEAM LEADER! It's about time that I'm rewarded for my abilities!"

"Stop shouting with the external speakers, you idiot Zorome! Also, hold that thing right there! Hachi said Argentea is the team leader! That means ME! And what are those abilities you're talking about? All you do is flap your mouth open endlessly! HARDLY what a team leader does!"

"You don't go on blabbering, Miku! I was talking directly to him! And if Hachi appointed me himself, you'll have to acknowledge the-fact-that-I'm-the-best! I'M THE BEST! I always knew it!"

"Shut the hell up, I said! I'll acknowledge you after I'm dead!"

Suddenly, the loud footsteps and voices come to a halt.

"Oh...? Is this a dead end...?"

"HAH! Look at the incompetence of the supposed team leader, everyone! Already leading the squad to ruin right away? You should resign and give the role to someone more ACCOMPLISHED! HOHOHOHO!"

"Ah- shut up! It's your fault! You're in the FranXX, you should have told me!"

"Aaaah? That's not my task, you loser team leader, if you can't even read a tactical map from your comfortable stamen seat! SOOOO DISGRACEFUL!"

"L-lies! The map said the corridor is longer and then... then there's a crossing... and...!"

"Heh! I know it, you're just a lost child without me! Stop complaining and look here!"

A pause, then... «BAM!», two sets three orange glowing-hot claws pierce into the hydraulic door. The metal of the door sharply fizzles and cracks from the blades' extreme heat.

"Haaaaah!"

The talons slash downward in an arch, leaving effortlessly white-hot cuts in the tempered steel like it's butter, then retract and slash once again across the door connecting the other tears in a triangle.

"HA!"

With a violent impact, the cut section is loudly smashed off the door and its pieces ends up rolling across the other side of the fully lit corridor among a shower of hot metal splinters. Past the still glowing borders of the triangular hole shine a couple of bright lights, and a white and pink robotic face hovers between them. Featureless apart from a stylized mouth, a small nose under a pair of round glasses seemingly painted around a pair of curious aqua-green stylized eyes peeping from the dark.

"Whoaaaa! It was a door?!" an uncouth and genuinely surprised male voice exclaims from the floating head.

"Finally light!" the face says while morphing into a complacent grin. Argentea reels backwards, then jumps with agility through the scorching hole and lands graciously into the light, revealing her full extent.

Tall slightly less than a hundred meters, Argentea is a humanoid mecha with a very feminine appearance. Landing on a single high footless boot with a slight metal rim at the top, her jointless white-and-purple striped legs slightly bend forward to the knee's height to easily sustain the energy of the jump. Both legs quickly recover and widen as Argentea boldly straightens her slender and violet back with a "Hmpf!" in superiority pose, leaning her white cylindrical clawed gloves onto her white hip armor resembling short jeans. She throws out her sleeveless white chest armor made by a thick and high collar that comfortably houses her head.

"See? I made it! Who's the TRUE team leader now, HUH?", she taunts Zorome with a naughty and at the same time complacent attitude. The human features of Argentea don't stop there: past the black neckline, finds his way a diamond shaped chin from which start two short antennas that cover the mech's cheeks. Above her white face, her heart-shaped head culminates in a pink helmet decorated by an aqua-green tiara and, on the sides of her head, extend two u-shaped long antlers resembling obtrusive twin-tails that arch to the side and make her little show-off all the more hilarious.

"Hmpf! ...Not that bad, Miku. You can be my second in command." A condescending male voice comes from the vibrating discs inset into the sides of Argentea's helmet.

"Agh! You little...!"

But suddenly, "Oh, come on both of you, stop this! We need to get to Hachi!" a low-pitched but slightly immature male voice coming from behind cuts her off.

"What do you want, fattie?"

"Hey! Watch your tongue!" the deep voice aggressively barks, "Ikuno doesn't feel well! I don't want her to get worse because of you're wasting time bickering. Get on with it!"

"Whoa, calm doooown Futoshi! Your team leader has things under control!" Argentea says as she turns around towards the hole to contain her teammate's manifest impatience.

"Thanks, Futoshi..." a mature but feeble female voice moans past the door's hole.

"G... guys," Another shy girl's voice coming from past the hole begs between insecure stuttering, "h-how about we go on...? I'm s-scared of this place..."

"Sure, Kokoro."

Argentea closes up to the hole on the door and removes her cylindrical right glove, trapping it between her side and her other left one, then extends her freed arm back trough the opening she created. Shortly after, a white mech's hand with five slender fingers slides forward to grab the pink mech's shoulder. Tilting herself backwards, Argentea slowly drags out the rest of the forearm, a long pauldron with purple rims and long metal rods shaped as wings attached to its side.

"Careful, carful!" a deep bark warns again Argentea.

"Geez, I'm doing my best, Futoshi!" Miku complains back to him.

After some careful movements, a long white and violet armored shoulder slides past the hole, followed by a head surmounted by a white almond-shaped helmet with an orange gem on its top, a long violet iron plume mounted on its back and two sets of wing-like antennas built on the cheeks. A single teal eye shines through the purple visor integrated on the front of the helmet, squinted and vaguely trembling behind some long curved metal fins resembling curvy bangs coming out from the top of the visor.

"Good Ikuno, now get up the leg slowly... Watch the rim..."

Clasping her lips displayed on the faceplate, the mech lifts her left leg and clears the still glowing-red hole. Slowly, a white leg shines through it as the newfound light reveals, at the end of it, a long orange spike acting as a foot made of the same material of Argentea's claws.

"Uwwww..." Ikuno's voice comes off strained as the leg touches the ground and the other follows through, unstably shifting the balance to the former. But, despite Argentea's help, the orange spike supporting the mech's weight slides onto the slippery metal flooring.

"Oh-!" The purple robot grapples onto Argentea in an attempt to remain balanced, but the sudden movement takes her by surprise, "Nononono! I- can't-!" and drags her companion towards the ground.

"Chlorophytum!" A panicky male voice breaks through the hole past the door and two black mech hands wrap around the unstable mech's frame halting her fall just above the heat of the molten steel. "Watch out!"

"I'm- pant... - sorry," Ikuno apologizes, " I can't feel my FranXX's balance..."

"Genista, on my three we lift Chlorophytum," Miku shouts, "one, two, three!"

"Hop!" With a synchronized effort, the black colored FranXX props up Chlorophytum from her armpits while the pink one drags it through the still fiery hole in the door. Past the danger, Argentea puts her sitting onto the ground with a metallic thud. "Ahh! We made it!"

"Damn..." Ikuno curses with the last sliver of her breath while reaching for her FranXX prominent chest, belonging to quite the feminine figure of Argentea, only crucially different detail of her design is that she resembles a winged ballet dancer instead of a roller-skater. In fact, a belt of steel magazines floats around her hip like a frilly costume skirt.

"We should let her rest," another male voice declares, more noble-sounding than the one belonging to Chlorophytum's stamen, comes from the black mech still at the other side of the door. A white faceplate with long and soft-looking metal sheets recalling blond braids peeks from the hole with wide violet eyes and a small mouth. Over her head sits a really obtrusive black shako helmet with big acid-green ear protectors,

"Mitsuru... I want to say yes, but- owww, my head...- Hachi said w-we don't have time..." Ikuno explains while massaging her FranXX's helmet. "If it comes to it... please, go on... without-"

"No way!" Mitsuru, Kokoro, Miku, Zorome and Futoshi immediately shout her down in unison.

"Ikuno, what are you even thinking...!" Futoshi says incredulous.

"We're not going to leave Chlorophytum here! Leader's orders!" Miku states in a definitive manner, above Zorome's grumbling reaction.

"D-don't worry! If it comes to it, then Genista's gonna carry you!" Kokoro says while the black mech shows her clasped black mittens stating her willingness to carry out her intentions.

"A-ah..." Ikuno forgoes her intentions in a sigh. "OK, then... I'll be in your care. Sorry..."

"Argentea, I need a hand!" Mitsuru calls the mech's attention. Genista crouches past the hole, then resurfaces holding what seems a massive black-and-acid-green revolver-styled gunlance with an orange bayonet affixed to the end of its long barrel and hands it over to the pink teammate.

"Ah- sure!" Zorome and Miku respond in unison, then Argentea comes closer to the hole and, after affixing her clawed gloves on her hip armor, grabs the bulky rifle by the carry handle from Genista's hands and carefully gets it through. With a "Ouuuf!", she slowly and carefully accompanies the weapon on the ground. "How do you even fight with this...!" Miku protests still bent in two.

"Now, I-I'm gonna jump through!" Kokoro declares as Genista pats her black armor - more similar of a bell-shaped black overcoat ending at calves' height with squared shoulder protectors. Past the solid parka made of metal sheets, her bulky moon boots' tips nervously tap the steel ground as Kokoro takes the courage to follow through her words. "H-h-h-ere we go!"

"Ah- wait, Kok- UGH!" Mitsuru tries to stop her partner, but his words abruptly end in a grumble and Genista takes a run up to the door anyways. She skips through the door in a very girly jump with hands and legs tied together, and the triangular hole is conveniently made for her body shape to pass through. But alas, the upper section of the hole isn't shaped as her high cylindrical helmet.

«BANG!»

"WHAAAAAH!" Genista's high cap smashes onto the upper rim of the hole and, retaining the momentum from the jump, the mech backflips and slides face-first through the corridor at top speed, only ending her travel after grinding a large crevice onto the flooring. The top of the hole is now deformed by a severe bump onto the thick steel.

"Kokoro!" Futoshi screams in panic.

"Owowowowwww!" Genista grabs her cap now reclined backwards showing knit blonde hair and shoves it back upright, then proceeds to rub out the squinted-out frown painted her faceplate. "Awww! That hurt! I thought I could do it!"

"Jeez, could you just had climbed it slowly like Chlorophytum did? You're such a klutz sometimes, Kokoro. Good that it was just your hat and not the cockpit." Miku says as Argentea approaches her teammate and pats her black shoulder armor.

"I-I'm sorry!" she panics while trying to explain herself, "I just saw you do it and... I just went and jumped..."

"Heheh..." Ikuno's weakly chuckles between her teeth from Chlorophytum.

"It was my fault too." Mitsuru interjects with a "I've said Code 556's name and... I just didn't manage to stop haer."

"N-No, Code 326, I'm the one at fault... I should had been more careful... I'm the driver..."

"Weeeell, two casualties on your first team leader's day! How's that feeling, Zorome?" Miku jabs at his partner out of the blue.

"Hmpf! We're two, aren't we...?"

"Oh, nice! That's the closest I can make you admit to it. Can you stand, Genista?"

"Yes. I guess I don't feel anything wrong after all." Mitsuru says as his black mech stands once again with her shoulder guided by Argentea. "Well, you're very agile in your FranXX, Argentea."

"That's the point of my design, is it! Fast-and-hard!" Miku merrily says as Argentea shadowboxes into the air under Genista's big-eyed stare.

"Sure it was a while since we learned how to drive," Ikuno adds while Chlorophytum carefully props herself up on her knees, "but I still feel a bit clumsy about it."

"That's not true, you're not like that at all! " Futoshi objects to his partner's devaluation. "You've just strained yourself, Ikuno, don't be unfair...!"

"Hhm..." Ikuno weakly grumbles as Chlorophytum's only eye saddens.

"Now that you mention it, this is the longest we've ever been inside our FranXX," Mitsuru duly notes. "I guess this is quite the special occasion, huh. We don't have much fuel left, so we'll better hurry."

"Come on, Ikuno, up we go!" Kokoro merrily asks her teammate while Genista grabs Chlorophytum by the armpits to assist her to get upright. In response, she arches her arm around the high collar of Genista's armored poncho and proceeds carefully along the lit corridor.

"Thanks..." Ikuno says as the only eye of her FranXX mellows.

"Argentea, could you carry my Sparrow Rook? I've got my hands full." Mitsuru asks as Genista glances back to the horned FranXX.

"Aye!" Zorome heeds his teammate's call and Argentea hurries to grab Genista's long rifle from the transport handle and jerks it back up with both hands, not without a theatrical "OOOF!" and following the other two down the corridor while wobbling left and right due to the hefty luggage.

The FranXX trio continues the walk into a long-spanning hallway made out of white steel plates painted by multiple color-coded arrows, marking the service paths the now missing service crew used to transport the humongous pieces of Star Entity during it's construction. Along the walls of the corridor, mules of many sizes and shapes and long heavy duty transport trains were orderly left abandoned close to human-sized elevators. That's one of the many evacuation pathways that were supposedly planned, Ikuno noted.

"These ones were really in a hurry," she concluded observing an unusual group of transport vehicles that were piled onto each other like bumper cars gone wild.

"Those carts are so small up here!" Zorome happily takes notice with superiority while Argentea bumps one of the carts with her finger, big like said vehicle. "They look like the toys I've had at the Garden! Cool!"

"Were you used to play... with mini cars?" Miku asks.

"Huh, yeah? What about it?"

"Hm, I thought you liked to play with the ball."

"Just because those runts won't shut up on how they were good at it! Seriously, I wanted to teach them some respect!"

After the brief interruption, the group resumes their travel and reaches a series of crossroads with air windmills rotating on the ceiling interspersed by twists and bends. Having learned the right path by heart, Miku and Zorome drive their FranXX in front of Genista and Chlorophytum while still carrying the former's weapon.

While periodically stopping to check the right way among the intricate web of the underground Gran Crevasse, Zorome learns that the map has multiple interconnected layers of corridors and halls, divided by several hundred meters of solid rock, at which bottom extend magma extractor pumps plunge to the depths of the earth.

"This place is... massive. How could Papa build this in two months from when we conquered it?" Miku asks while walking.

"Well, of course, I think that if Papa can build Plantations, then it's not that far off that he can build even bases like this... I guess." Futoshi suggests. "Also, weren't the Adults helping?"

"Yeah, Papa was extremely powerful... and the adults too!" Zorome says with a sliver of naivety.

"Powerful...?" Ikuno wonders, "Yes, Papa had the technology, and the adults the knowledge to use it." Ikuno's recites her thoughts aloud, but then her tone starts to aggravate. "He made everything. The plantations, the FranXX... and even us. But even then, if Papa would have been all-powerful... that wouldn't had mattered in any way." Her voice falls in a whisper.

Papa, the absolute ruler of Humanity. He led what remained of human civilization against the invincible monster aggressor that leveled all the world's cities to the ground and caused millions upon millions of deaths. Since Ikuno was born, she was told that the hopes of Humanity were placed on them, the FranXX drivers, and that they had to give up their life for a brighter future. One where society wouldn't have to hide inside Plantations, gigantic roaming city-fortresses made of steel and traverse the earth like tormented souls. But, at the lasts of said crucial moment, when victory was at hand, he betrayed humanity and sided with VIRM, some otherworldly force that came out of the blue and slaughtered everyone indiscriminately with the intention of stealing Star Entity and, by extension, the future that humanity sought for.

Ikuno feels a twisting sensation inside her chest. The same one would feel if lied since birth.

"Why? Why throwing it all away like that? What was the sense of everything at all!" Ikuno's voice suddenly mounts with anger, "What's the sense of it all? Could any of you tell me what was our sacrifice worth for?"

Both Genista and Argentea suddenly stop on their tracks, startled by Ikuno's outburst, and turn to look at Chlorophytum's only eye, now tinged of a reddish hue.

"Why when you get close to the future humanity was promised, you just throw it all away? Why would you do that? WHY!" Ikuno screams at the top of her lungs, making the floor vibrate under the pressure of her voice projecting from her FranXX, still hanging from a startled Genista.

"It was... our future, too..." She sobs.

Ikuno's words grind to a halt in front of her teammates' vacuous expressions, that slowly morph into regretful glances at the sign of her eye trembling with static noise. Their helpless stares drop to the floor acknowledging the meaning of Ikuno's anger but unable of saying anything useful to explain their current predicament.

An empty silence falls into the equally empty corridor, then Kokoro takes point with an observation. "We were... never explained the hows and whys of many things..." she tries to put it vaguely, and Mitsuru picks up from her.

"Yeah, since we were little, we were never told how things were, just what we would have to do for everyone." he contemplates at his own words, then continues. "But I think this is the time to ask the same questions again. And I'm not going to accept a 'no' ever again. Not after today."

"Nice said, Mitsuru! We've been led around in circles too many times! I want to know it all! No excuses!" Futoshi ramps up with a grave tone.

"I guess that we'll have to reach the top first. When we're done with this situation, we'll ask the rest." Mitsuru concludes. Meanwhile, Chlorophytum parts slightly with a worried Genista and tries to balance herself on her pointy feet, then lets go of her former walking aid. She takes a steady walk towards Argentea that greets her with a smile.

"Hm. I feel better now." Ikuno says while discovering that she can keep her balance way better than before. "I think I can walk by myself from now on."

"Oh! Do you feel we can try hovering mode?" Futoshi asks her.

"Yes, I think I can manage." Saying so, a sudden jet of compressed air comes from both of the rims built around Chlorophytum's knees from which begins the orange of her pin feet. The strong air current travel down her feet like an aerospike thruster and gives the mech the lift force to detach some meters off the ground.

"Nice!" Zorome exclaims as the white-and-violet winged mech pulls a pirouette in midair without effort.

"Ikuno! You're good to go then! Thanks to this, we're gonna get there in no time!" Miku cheers while Argentea runs to Genista to unceremoniously deliver back the black gun she was carrying. She takes the lead and points forwards. "If you're ready, then let's hurry! Hachi and everyone else is waiting for us!" Saying so, Argentea engages her own thrusters at the soles of her legs and transitions to a hover like her teammate.

"O-oh! I'm joining too!" Kokoro activates Genista's hover thrusters too, and the strong whirlwinds created by everyone's scatters away the orderly lined transport carts all around the corridor, smashing them like toys against the walls under Genista's guilty squeals.

"Wh-whatever! Those were not cool. Forward!" A disgruntled Zorome yells and, one after the other, the mechs propel down the endless corridor towards the mass service elevator.

...

* * *

...

Bright images flash before Hachi's peeled eyes in the dim lights of the command room.

The entirety of the battle's recording fast-forwards on the main console display in multiple screens, each one of them detailing the points of view of the observation drones. His irises dance erratically left and right onto the data readings displayed with or ange fonts to the sides of the picture, a continuous stream of information detailing the events that transpired during those moments.

Hachi taps onto the wide console terminal and a tactical holomap appears hovering to the side of the screen. A wall green dots is visualized in a bell formation around the circular shape of Gran Crevasse, when to the left of the map a wave of solid blue contacts streams towards the center. The humongous mass of Klaxxosaurs is intercepted by the FranXX ground forces clashes like a raging river contained by a dam. As the charge is contained, slowly but surely, some of the single green dots that were taking the brunt of the assault turn bright red among vague muffled screams heard from the recorded open comms.

...

Unit Lophira: connection lost.

Unit Badilloa: left arm critical damage.

Unit Anthemis: connection lost.

Unit Triadenum: detected cockpit breach.

...

Hachi's eyes remain cold and calculating, but his hand reflexively clenches his chair's armrest. The aerial cameras show the moment the blue wave dead-stopped onto the line of FranXX units and receded slowly as black and orange towering mechs desperately thrusting their spears forward to contain the blue horror materialized in mechanical monster form. The battle raged on as, one after the other, the blue nighmares' cores popped one after the other among blue liquid explosions, leaving an ever-growing mountain of defeated Klaxxosaurs at the base of the human defense line.

The battle was going the right way, but then, the catastrophe came.

The awakening of Star Entity and the descent of the violet drop pods from the upper atmosphere, then Papa's possessed voice thundering on the comms announcing his traitorous declaration, followed by a stream of foreign contacts popping up everywhere. The new enemy took surprise both sides and the head-to-head encounter became a confusing melee as violet-colored small robots without heads smashed their stumped hands onto the broken human defensive line and proceeded to kamikaze themselves onto the mass of blue Klaxxosaurs. Among electrified explosions and plasma orbital bombardments descending from the clouded sky, the most hellish spectacle unfolded before Hachi's trembling eyes. One by one, the screens of the observation drones go static as they are systematically shot down and the event log starts going crazy.

...

Unit Justicia: core critical failure.

Unit Quercus: detected cockpit breach.

Unit Muraltia: connection lost.

Unit Hovea: leg damage detected.

Unit Helicrisium: magma tank critical failure.

Unit Diospyros: crew damage detected.

Unit Carlina: arm displacement.

Unit Quercus: crew damage detected.

Unit Ancathia: crew damage detected.

Unit Ancathia: connection lost.

...

The list was updating faster than his reading capabilities allows him to follow. The orange fonts flicker quickly pass under Hachi's eyes detailing the injury of each unit on the field, among muffled and ever-increasing laments and screams. Eventually, his hand flings forward to pause the recording.

"Haahh... Hahh..." Hachi's breath painfully escapes him. An enormous pressure is crushing his chest like being at a kilometer under the sea. Hachi grapples his head and silently slides his elbows onto the console, among nervous gasps for air. Eventually, his breathing stabilizes, and his hand retracts back while his gaze solders to the paused wall of screens filled with gray static with a 'signal lost' red caption. But, even if the pressure subsides, all that's left is just a hole where the heart would have been...

Hachi clenches his fists and, guided by a strong impulse, jumps up from the command chair and walks straight towards the exit, only to grind himself to a halt midway to the door.

"...Where am I going?" he asks to himself. But the answer wouldn't come up. "Am I... running?" He marvels to his own instincts while staring at the metal tiled floor. "Why...?" He lost control of his body for a second, like something urged him to run. Run far. Farther than anyone and anything, and never come back.

"What... the..." He starts pondering seriously if he has something wrong in himself. That was the first time he ever commanded a full-scale battle and he didn't realize fully what that battle was like until he watched it all with his own eyes. So... why having that urge? Isn't it his duty to be the best commander he could be? To be with his Parasites till the end? To learn from his experiences and losses, and all...? Maybe it was impossible to prevent. Maybe... it was one droplet too much for him. After all, he was completely impotent in front of something horrible while he had the responsibility to prevent it.

Once again.

"I wonder if things are going to change at all." Hachi, although, is pretty sure there are things that are just not going to change, no matter how much you desire and work towards it. His gaze elevates to the white ceiling and, after a brief moment of recollection, faces back the screen hands joined to his sides.

"Command: close playback."

A deep, robotic male voice coming from the console answers him back, and the gray hue from the previously destroyed drone cameras dissipates to show the recording backup interface.

«Playback closed.»

Hachi walks back to the console and scans for the last time the data entries of the battle report and, deciding it was all in order, makes to grab the cylindrical memory unit embedded into the console. But, at the last moment, something slightly strange picks up his attention.

"Wait... why is this entry so big?" Hachi noticed with his side vision an entry in particular that was called 'Weather' and was several terabytes big, not quite the data dimension of the forecasts he would expect to see in a normal report. "Why are you like this...?" he wonders.

Quickly recalling his vast experience, the automated report systems' job is to compile a humongous amount of data and then pack them in human-readable formats called battle reports.

In particular there are pre-battle reports, where an AI gets the most data possible from sensors, to foe detection and databases of previous battles to compile prediction models of everything pertaining the battle: from geological activity models to predict the class and numbers of Klaxxosaurs joining the battle, weather models for windage artillery corrections to precise health readings of the pilots to preemptively determine their performance in battle, ending with a probability map of the attack pattern of the Klaxxosaurs. That's the one that Hachi based his strategy on, and was - mostly - correct, apart from Papa's betrayal chance, that was listed as 0% both in the report and in Hachi's head... Not really, it wasn't listed in the report, but he does wonder if, with some AI training, he would had the opportunity to add it.

After that, the in-battle report is the one he had just ended witnessing. Video recording, logging, telemetry data, all provided by the observation drones and optical devices disseminated in the valley below. The report goes as far as the life of the drones lasts, as seen on the screens, and some meteorological drones were definitely still up when the battle ended since Hachi used one to scan for a landing site.

"Command: show timeline." Hachi asks with authoritative tone.

«Timeline mode.»

Before him, a scrollable horizontal graph with the events of the battle appears hovering in front of him. He gestures left to right to scroll towards the last moments of the battle and finds that a lot of data was recorded minutes before the end.

"What are you...?"

His fingers expand that section of the timeline and a floating picture opens. A solitary ground camera placed on a distant crest of rock was left untouched and recorded the distant silhouette of the massive complex of Gran Crevasse.

"Star... Entity...?"

He focuses the picture on the humongous metal mech arising from the complex, looking at the sky, then igniting its bright blue horn. Hachi parts his fingers to zoom onto it at maximum level, then slows down the recording in order to being able to see what's that all about.

"It's a plasma weapon, isn't it?" Hachi tries to guess the nature of the weapon, comparing to how it was used before, when the Princess took control of it, briefly before being encased in the VIRM containment shell.

"Command: read event log."

As he finishes the sentence, the computer answers him back.

«Voiceover active. Abnormal atmospheric heat detected.»

"Indeed. Terminal air compression inside the horn. Generates heat, that creates plasma that is cast my magnetic force at high speed. Maybe the heat was what triggered the drones to record the event in the first place."

A fiery ball of plasma slowly forms at the tip of the horn and starts rotating slowly at first, then the momentum accelerates at breakneck speeds.

«Gravity contraction detected.»

"...Huh?" Hachi slightly furrows his thin brows. "...Why would you need to...?"

Like anticipated by the second tooltip, a light distortion due to gravitational lens forms around the gas ball, that accelerates until it's not possible to tell if it's rotating or not. The gravitational lens becomes immensely powerful and warps the light all around it like being inside a glass sphere. Then, the ball of fire reduces to single, minuscule point, compressed by the immense bounding force of the artificial gravity. The camera is washed white by an intense glare.

«Fusion reaction detected.»

Hachi's eyes open wide.

"...I didn't get a memo about this."

Hachi flicks his fingers and changes to the IR thermal view, detecting inside that little point a total of a million degrees and rapidly rising.

"This isn't a plasma weapon. It's a particle beam weapon."

The ball contracts some more, then the gravitational lens distorts at the top, parting at the top of the sphere. The hyper-compressed air is released in a flash. A light lance ascends the sky, piercing the clouds above that instantly vaporize, accompanied by countless lightnings crossing the black veil, leaving only the blue of the sky at its place. The beam accelerates upwards in a narrow cone and melts instantly everything that isn't a FranXX or a Klaxxosaur in a radius of kilometers above ground.

«Planetary atmosphere escape detected. Radiation readings increasing.»

A satellite view of the Earth appears next to the little camera's, showing the narrow heat wave of the beam depicted as red, and the atmosphere of the planet as a blue circle. The air layers in contact with the beam are literally dragged off Earth's gravity influence and shot into space. The VIRM sky armada, parked in geostationary orbit above the complex, is engulfed by the red cone. One by one, the contacts of the starships disappear on screen under Hachi's petrified expression.

"...Star Entity." Hachi articulates its name with absolute doom.

Now he knew why it was called in such a way.

The immense power of the stars. Inside the ultimate life form.

The definitive war machine. At humanity's fingertips.

Before, Hachi was extremely confused about the sudden appearance of VIRM. Not about their existence, because if you are born in an Earth filled with Klaxxosaurs, the concept of alien life existing along humanity is decisively the norm and widely accepted.

It was about what they wanted. As the betrayal unfolded, he tried to conjure up some answers.

The Earth?

Enslaving humanity?

Or the Klaxxosaurs...?

No. That time, he wasn't even close to the answer.

Now, coldly calculating like the commander he is, Hachi sees a scenario where they observed Papa from space until we discovered Star Entity in Klaxxosaur form, buried under Earth's crust. At the right time, such aliens presented themselves as... an omnipotent agent and promised to Papa the key to his desires. Lying to him all the way in, of course. Papa proceeded to plan to capture and build the ultimate weapon, and so he did for the vision of a free humanity. But as soon as his trust was placed into the aliens, they corrupted his values and, at the same time, guided him in a mad dash towards his 'bright future', while ultimately shifting that path to such future towards ruin and madness. Without him ever realizing.

Hachi concludes VIRM wanted Star Entity all along. Or bring down the planet with it, because if they didn't have it, they wouldn't want anyone else get it. A plausible scenario, in his mind.

"That's why they went such lengths to acquire Star Entity. It was too powerful to ignore."

Hachi's mouth bends slightly.

"Emotions are such a useless baggage."

Seconds after the beam reached the starships, the entire host of VIRM mechs on the ground immediately stopped moving and fell to the ground, like they were actually controlled drones. Hachi relived those moments as the last of the Klaxxosaurs fled in every direction like wild animals. For the first time in hours, the battlefield stood still. Even the sensors were silent, as everything that was even remotely over ground was melted by the sheer heat of Star Entity's beam. Maybe that was one of the reasons why the long-range antennas weren't functioning properly.

Hachi sighs as his eyes return to the timeline reaching the end...

"Wait, no. It's not even close to the end." He uses his fingers to drag the bar it to the end and... it stopped recording ten minutes ago, at the time that Hachi made the backup of the report.

Why...? Wasn't the battle over...? Hachi recoils and realizes that the meteorological drones were still up and recording. "Huh, did their sensors melt and started to record junk data?" Hachi scratches his chin looking down, but then his head reflexively shoots up as a quite obvious detail escaped him. "No, wait a moment. I've just seen through their cameras, they're completely operational. So, why is...?"

As like answering him back, the stern robotic reads aloud.

«Nuclear fallout cloud detected. Beta-gamma-neutron source detected.»

"Nucl... Nuclear fallout...?" As he fumbles his words, a holographic tooltip pops above the timeline.

...

TOUCH TO VISUALIZE IN VIRTUAL SPACE

...

Hachi's hand promptly extends to the dialog and slides his fingers onto it. The timeline disappears and the room's lights slowly dim, until the surroundings are replaced with a virtual lattice-made model of Gran Crevasse and the jagged landscape of the mountain it was built upon. Above the complex expanding vertically, in an inverted cone shape, fogs a red cloud that slowly inches towards outer space.

«Mean energy of decaying particles calculated. Data models suggests a carbon-oxygen-nitrogen atomic fusion cycle took place close to near-orbit elevation. Units and active equipment in contact with fallout could be affected by the following conditions.

«Effect on communications: mild interference. Effect on electronic devices: terminal failure. Effect on inert elements: ionization and atomic decay. Effect on biological entities: lethal irradiation dose, followed by invalidating illness and life termination.

«Suggestion: emanate no-flight zone on the affected area.»

A pearl of sweat rolls down Hachi's temple as the robotic voice proceeds impassibly.

«Gravity fluctuations and wind models available. Descent of the radiated cloud in progress. Calculations suggest that the estimated area of maximum effect is 150 square kilometers around the area of operations.

«Long-term weather simulations shows 10% of the particles making touchdown in three hours, 30% in five hours and 100% in ten hours. Suggestion: declare immediate evacuation of every Plantation or friendly unit in a 50 km radius from the area of operations within seven to eight hours. All units should prepare for radioactive decontamination.»

Another sweat tear descends on Hachi's cheek.

«Attention: disregard of previous suggestion may lead to a successive 87% casualty rate.»

Then, another.

And another.

His hands start trembling. His breath chills and his throat contracts.

"It... can't... be," he utters in a whisper.

«Combining reports. The final survivability rate after twelve hours totals 0% of the deployed units.»

A cold shower washes over him. His back suddenly straightens like a pole and goose bumps .

"It... can't... be..."

«End of report.»

The robotic voice remains silent after the ultimate judgment. In an infinite moment, the visualization of the room slowly fades and light crawls back onto the steel walls and onto the strategic command console.

"It... can't be true. Is it... wrong, right? What's the chance of that...?"

Silence.

"A-ahc-Command: d-dis-display..."

«Command unrecognized.»

Hachi clenches his fists and forcedly swallows down his own saliva, then insists.

"C-Command: confirm last report accuracy."

«Report probability: 99%.»

"Hah-No. That's not true. That can't be true. That just can't..."

Hachi hangs his mouth open mid-sentence, like his brain refused to complete it. The room's walls distort as if closing around him, and his chest is crushed like being at the center of the Earth. Looking at his trembling hands, sweat droplets fall onto his palms and his breath becomes painful to bear. Suddenly, he slaps both his cheeks to wake himself up from the shock.

"Why am I making all this mess? Why I am even talking to an AI in the first place? Am I going mad?"

After a slow, deep breath, he nods. A cloud of lethal radiation is about to touch down on the battlefield and kill anyone stranded there in mere hours from now. On top of everything, the aerial rescue teams are not reachable or unavailable and most useful equipment of Gran Crevasse has been cooked or isolated by Star Entity's awakening. The situation won't change even if he wishes it with all his being.

"So... it's..."

The end.

Unless...

"Command: disengage AI prism."

«Warning: transfer of system image into memory cylinder required. Proceed?»

"Proceed."

...he's faster than the wind.

...

* * *

...

The three mechs speed down the underground bright transport corridors of Gran Crevasse. With Argentea leading the group, turn after turn, through loading bays and depots, the group finally enters a wide, circular room with a large square platform at the center.

"We're at the elevator!" Zorome announces.

Tilting backwards to decelerate, Argentea, Chlorophytum and Genista come to a hovering halt above the center of the room, to then slowly descend and plant their boots on the ground. The trio looks around and find the room as they previously left it, a royal mess. To the side, a giant entry hole, from which they managed to reach their commander, and two metal carcasses of impaled VIRM soldiers, left abandoned against the wall with their torso opened up by extensive gashes and bullet holes as they tried to stalk the mech group from the battlefield. To the side, a series of doors are lined up against the walls in an inset corridor.

"Squad, keep watch." Miku orders. Genista nods and wields her gunlance revolver to her hip, supporting it with the carry handle, then proceeds to stay on guard towards the hole with an unnecessarily serious but cute expression. Chlorophytum, instead, retracts her hand inside the gauntlet and a set of sights appears on its top, then proceeds to glare with her only eye the direction they came from.

Argentea closes to the set of doors, then proceeds to squad on all fours in front of them. "Hachiii! We're here!" Miku announces herself, then proceeds to plant Argentea's cheek onto the steel floor before pointing her index finger to the central door of the bunch. "Would you open?" she asks while trying to trigger its photocell, but the door opens before she could find out. A serious Hachi, carrying a transparent cube-case wide as like as his arm in one hand and a cylinder in the other, greets her with a nod.

"Greetings, Squad 13. You're a bit late."

"Here we are, Hachi!" Miku chirps as a wide smile paints all across Argentea while she retracts her hand to the side.

"Now, open your faceplate."

"...Huh? Why-"

"Don't ask, just do it," Hachi quells her firmly.

"Ah... Yes...!" Argentea's smile crumbles a little, then she proceeds to squint her eyes and to clench her mouth. "Unnf..." she pouts. Her front face suddenly switches off like an LCD screen, disengages from the rest of the head and reclines forward to stop parallel to the floor, acting as a step platform for the entrance of Argentea's cockpit.

"Oww, this feels like my face is melting..." Miku protests, but Hachi athletically jumps on the meter-high platform like it was nothing and proceeds to quickly clear the cockpit's rectangular entrance. Inside, he finds a red-headed girl with twintails on all-fours abandoned onto a bed-like supporting structure with her hands and legs lodged firmly inside cylindrical holes. She's wearing a white, skin-tight white jumpsuit with pink features, wearing a bulky and white collar with pink internal comfort cushions from which extends a spinal exoskeleton extending to her belt, made to relieve her tiny frame from posture strain. Her head hangs abandoned, almost lifeless, even when Hachi enters the cockpit. To the other hand, a lively and scrawny kid half of Hachi's age meets him with a smile.

"Greetings, Hachi!" Sitting on the stamen seat with slightly curly, side-parted medium brown hair with a small cowlick on top, in the stamen blue jumpsuit with a solid breastplate, he happily addresses his superior, "Say, why are you here inside the cockpit?"

"I need transport," he plainly states.

"Awaw! What's inside my head?" Miku whelps.

"Me." Hachi goes proceeds straight to the left of the stamen seat. "This is the emergency transportation protocol. You'll find yourself confused for a moment, it's normal."

"Confused? More like my brain being stirred!"

"You'll get used to it shortly." Hachi places down the cubic briefcase besides Zorome and squats before it. The transparent briefcase glints briefly and captures the young parasite's attention that leans forward to get a good look at it. Inside, a pyramid the side of a hand, held by steel rods in place, faintly glows orange through the slightly blackened glass of the container.

"Whoa...!" Zorome marvels to such strange object, noting the contours were extremely well-crafted, almost like it's made out of perfection itself. Then, the boy shifts to his commander's profile while he's fiddling with his night blue cylinder in trying to plug it into the briefcase. There's something different in him from an hour ago, and he can't place the finger on it. Zorome blinks repeatedly while trying to decipher his expression to no avail. "H-Hachi, is there... something..."

As he tries to ask, Hachi coldly glances toward him, "We don't have time right now. Code 390, close the hatch and start getting out the VIRM corpses out from the elevator platform. We need to resurface right this instant."

"Yessir!" The front face Argentea closes back shut and the panoramic screen comes online again. "You've heard Hachi, guys, let's get a move on!"

Chlorophytum and Genista nod to her, then all move in closer to the VIRM soldiers' corpses to grab one by one by each side and throw them back inside the explosion hole in the wall. After doing so, they return onto the platform.

"Command: show elevator controls." Hachi orders while sitting down onto the little space he has available between the panoramic screen and the stamen's seat and, under Zorome's surprised expression, a cold and robotic voice announces back «Host's primary systems connected, activating remote control interface,» while the prism behind the glass suitcase lights up considerably. Following the announcement, a holographic slab appears hovering in front of the sitting Commander with two big arrows on it. Hachi pushes the upwards one, and a round door on the ceiling above the platform parts open revealing an ascent tunnel black as pitch. Everyone looks up, then gulps down in unison.

The platform suddenly parts with the floor and, taken by surprise, the three mechs yelp as they are abruptly propelled upwards.

«Travel time: 200 seconds.» The cube announces, and the tunnel's lights turn on and flash intermittently as the platform quickly ascends towards the surface, some bright, some others eerily flickering.

"I-Is it safe to go this fast?" Ikuno blurts out while a rendered image of Chlorophytum in front of a white background yells with a bright teal eye.

"Yes, it's required," Hachi cryptically answers, then after a while, he further clarifies. "We need the rescue teams' support as fast as possible." Chlorophytum angles her mouth dissatisfied from the explanation but accepts it regardless.

Silence falls between the three mechs. Looking up the endless chasm, the trio admires effect of the dim service lights lined up orderly on the shaft's walls descending towards them like falling stars from the infinite black sky. Zorome secretly glances at Hachi noticing his seriousness while keeping watch to the altimeter integrated into the slab rapidly reaching the surface level. His feet nervously jumps up and down.

"Hachi, how deep is this elevator?"

"Five kilometers."

"Whoaaa! Really? I thought we jumped down some other elevators, but five kilometers!... Cool!"

"Hm. Star Entity's broader side is eight kilometers long."

"W-Whooooa!"

As soon that silence falls again, an image of Genista appears onto a holoscreen to the side of Zorome. While her image timidly fiddles, the voice of Kokoro reaches Argentea's cockpit. "Hachi... where Hiro and Zero Tw- ah! I meant Code 016 and Code 002 -go with Star Entity?"

Hachi looks to her, then shakes his head. "Unknown. The radio installation at Gran Crevasse is broken, and even if it isn't, it can't reach orbital range anyways."

"O-orbital range?" Kokoro almost shouts from the surprise, under the "Haaaah?" of the entire team listening on open communications.

"Yes. They left Earth's surface as soon as they regained control of the weapon."

"Whoa..." Mitsuru exhales while Futoshi lightly hollers in dismay. "That's a problem!"

"Do... you mean when those earthquakes struck?" Kokoro asks further.

"Yes. The sooner we get to Bird's Nest, the faster I will be able to get in touch with... them..." Hachi's words come to a halt as he covers his mouth while realizing something. "Wait. Did... they... do it?" he asks to himself by his teeth.

Silence falls. Genista stares confused at an immobile Hachi pinching his chin and blinking a little too fast for his usual neutral and collected poise. Everyone listens to his silence open-mouthed, on the edge of his lips, but when nothing comes from them, Kokoro nudges in the begging question.

"...Do what?"

Hachi suddenly shakes his head and imperceptibly waves his hand. "...Nevermind. I had a... pervasive thought."

"Don't worry, Hachi, we're up for the task! We're going to zoom to the Nest like pros!" Zorome fists jolt upwards, ready to anything, but Hachi looks plainly at him and just nods, then diverts his gaze back to the slab of the upward-ticking altimeter. The boy sighs with a vaguely sour look before returning to gaze upwards, to the invisible other end of the elevator.

A pause, then Hachi chimes in. "We're sixty seconds to the top. Your orders are to avoid any eventual contact if possible and enter flight mode immediately," he states his orders in formal fashion while ticking away at another holographic screen with a map depicted on it. "From there, turn four o'clock and veer north-east. The complex is some minutes at full speed crow's flight from the high-mass elevator." His face finally parts from the screen while addressing the team. "Everyone, I'm not sure what still lurks in the battlefield, so make sure to prepare for every scenario. Ready your weapons. Engage only if attacked."

"Yessir!" The three mechs respond in unison.

Genista opens the revolver magazine on her gunlance and yanks out three spent orange cartridges, that fall to the floor with a soundly bang, and proceeds to reload taking out new shells from under her armored poncho. With a «Clack!» Genista flicks the magazine of her gunlance closed and brings its gun barrel upwards.

"Ready!" Kokoro shouts.

At the same time, Chlorophytum instead retracts both hands inside her gauntlets and ejects, from a side port, the magazine of her arm-fitted twin machineguns, then simultaneously reloads them both in a single motion from the magazine holder magnetically hovering over her belt . Her gauntlets' outlines paint bright violet as she brings her guns up.

"Guns are live." Ikuno announces.

Finally, Argentea detaches her gloves from her hip armor, juggles them in the air and lets them fall onto her hands in a perfect fit. She clasp onto their internal grip and their long orange claws release forward, glowing brightly and acutely fizzling while immersed in the damp air of the elevator.

"It's showtime~!" Miku sings.

"Perfect." Hachi asks to the boys at the controls, "Stamens?"

"All clear," Mitsuru states.

"Focused!" Futoshi yells.

"On fire!" Zorome growls.

As the mechs look to each other, Hachi chimes in. "Remember, no slowdowns."

The three nod in unison, then look upwards.

A faint ring of light can be seen at the end of the shaft, slowly becoming bigger and bigger as the elevator zips upwards at high speed. Hachi dials the climb speed down, then presses a button onto the elevator controls. A blade of light can be seen forming to the center of the light ring and slowly getting bigger.

Then, the unexpected happens.

A garbled blue mess of a serpent Klaxxosaur falls through the opening shaft and freefalls towards the climbing platform. The moment literally freezes over as the trio realizes the absolute horror of their situation.

"KLAXXOSAAAUR!" Futoshi yells at the top of her lungs.

"FIRING!" Kokoro yells in panic while Genista shoulders her gunlance vertical. The other two realize in a panic what Genista's about to do and cower immediately.

«BOOM!»

The gunlance's barrel shocks the air and fires a molten round upwards. The elevator abruptly stops, pinned down by Rook Sparrow's massive recoil as Genista dents the platform with her boots.

"AAAAAAAAH!" Miku and Ikuno shout at the same time while Argentea and Chlorophytum are propelled upwards while conserving the climbing momentum. The round zips through the shaft painting a yellow tracer and impacts the falling Klaxxo with a violent explosion that expands the metal walls of the wide elevator shaft like a balloon. The shockwave compresses back down the two mechs onto the elevator platform that abruptly jams among deafening metal crackling noises.

Hachi, shoved aside from the shock with the cubed suitcase held just in time in his arms, regains his bearings and gets to the elevator controls, now painted red with an eerie caption all over it.

...

WARNING

ELEVATOR CRITICAL FAILURE

...

Above, Hachi grits his teeth at the Klaxxosaur plunging from the explosion's dust towards them, now with a hole at the center where Genista's round exploded.

"Elevator's busted!"

The monster's gonna crush the platform with all of them on top.

There's five kilometers' worth of fall beneath them.

And there's just one direction to go.

"EVERYONE, FLY MODE, GO, GO, GO!" Hachi screams.

"YESSIR!" A completely aghast Zorome shouts back to him.

"Ikuno! We've gotta fly!" Futoshi hails to his pistil.

"Ugh!" Ikuno winces in pain as Chlorophytum's shoulder pads open in two and two nozzles appear from them. Argentea's back armor opens and a jetpack, like Genista's poncho. The nozzles prime up, and from each one, an orange jet of plasma melts the platform beneath them.

"Liftoff!"

The propulsors explode and the trio launches upwards with a bang.

Argentea takes the lead after Genista, using her claws to cut in midair the pieces of the Klaxxosaur body that fall dangerously towards them. Chlorophytum, using her wings as reaction surfaces, twirls to the side and makes her twin machineguns sings while vomiting hails of bullets to help the former in smashing apart the incoming debris.

"GOOOOO!" Miku shouts, and the robots nail the hole in the serpent Klaxxosaur like a thread in a needle, continuing in their race towards the top. Argentea looks behind and, past his rocketing teammates, sees the monster loudly crashing onto the elevator platform to then disappear into the black of the depths of the earth. Argentea sighs in relief, then looks up and her expression immediately sours. The top is farther than they had imagined. The climb is certainly faster than before, but there's a lot of way to go.

"Please, let us make it... please let us make it..." Zorome starts praying from the fear. He glances to the side and finds an Hachi looking up with determined, peeled eyes and gritting hard his teeth. As if motivated by the energy of his commander, he takes courage and proceeds to do the same while burning through the way to the top.

"I'm... being... drained...!" Ikuno yelps.

"Ikuno, don't give up! We're almost there!" Futoshi thunders with his voice trying to inspire her partner. The bright circle rapidly enlarges, but the ascent seem endless and the expression of each FranXX morphs in fatigue.

"Huhhh..."

Suddenly, the jets of plasma from Chlorophytum thrusters chokes intermittently, then suddenly switches off.

"I'm...! My wings! I'm low on fuel! Help me, HELP!" Ikuno panics while her mech extends her hand towards the now visible blue sky, like trying to grab it. Argentea dismayingly witnesses her teammate, slowly decelerating her climb while tethered by gravity, and a furiously determined grin paints her faceplate.

"NO ONE LEFT BEHIND!" Miku and Zorome scream in unison. Argentea switches her thruster off, orients herself downwards, then re-engages them. Hachi enters in panic at that maneuver and lies on the verge of firing a counter-order, but the absolutely dead-serious and unstoppable expression of Zorome steals from him all the words he had.

Argentea propels downwards and, as Chlorophytum runs out of momentum, embraces her teammate from behind.

"UOOOOAAAAAA!" Both Miku and Zorome yell out of their lungs in sync and their jetpack's nozzles literally explode with plasma of unbridled violence, propelling them both up the shaft like a rocket. "UUUUUUP!"

The climb is ludicrously fast and the round window to the sky widens dramatically. In no time, the two reach the top and are met by an incredibly bright sun.

"YES!" Zorome cheers, but he realizes that he talked too soon when Argentea's own thrusters suddenly shut off.

Zorome and Argentea's smiles instantly wipes off their face.

"Ah..."

As having just cleared the border of the ledge, Argentea and Chlorophytum once again plunge towards the bottom, one in the arms of the other.

Zorome, taken hold by shock, extends Argentea's arm to the sky.

And Genista catches it with her hand.

"HOOOOLD!" Kokoro desperately yells to herself, as Genista leverages with her boots on the metal border of the chasm. Argentea takes hold of her hand, and she and Chlorophytum smash onto the circular walls of the hole, to then wildly dangle just above the nothingness. "UHHHGGG!"

Genista's footing is slowly giving in, as her weight combined to the other two is constantly deforming the metal ledge where the black mech is standing, trying to halt his teammates' fall.

"GRAB THE LEDGE!" Mitsuru yells to them.

Chlorophytum, on her teammate's plea, retracts her twin cannons and, jumps from the back of the pink striped mech to reach the ledge herself. She grabs the lid, and with a growl, manages to pull herself over it. "Ughhhh!" Ikuno rolls to the ground and remains lying on her side, feeling the heart of her mech.

Meanwhile, Argentea proceeds to smash her other glove's claws onto the wall like a climbing pickaxe and scales the vertical wall aided by Genista. Eventually, her striped leg clears the rim and pulls her body over the solid ground, that rolls supine to the side of the chasm. Then, her faceplate dims out.

"Haahh... Haahh..." Inside Argentea, Zorome releases in panic her partner's controls and tries covers his mouth with his trembling hands, as like trying to quell his erratic breathing while his body is chocked-full of adrenaline. Miku, the twin-tailed redhead just in front of him, awakes in the same predicament and pulls herself upright to breathe better and calm herself. Their scared eyes glance at the same time in Hachi's direction, finding him still holding onto the cube, silently staring into the air in front of him.

"I-I'm sorry..." Zorome whispers at the verge of tears with a tone full of regret. "I-I'm..."

Hachi's serious but unresponsive stare slowly wakes with a rapid series of blinks, then slowly pans his view to the two parasites. His mouth moves without a sound as he stares blankly at the two. Both can't sustain eye contact and deviate their eyes downwards in shame.

"...Reconnect," he whispers.

Slowly but inevitably, the two return to their driving positions. Zorome grabs both control handles coming from Miku's exoskeleton. "R-ready...?" he asks and, after Miku nods, presses both buttons on each one and Miku's mind connects to him and both regain the control of Argentea, whose faceplate lifts with a sad expression. She scans to the side and finds Genista towering over her, keeping watch with her rifle on the ready, while both her and Chlorophytum were passed out on the floor.

The pink mech nods, but a «Bang!» is heard to his side. Chlorophytum just smashed her fist onto the floor, her eye glowing red. "Damn this body...!" Ikuno curses as her mouth morphs in rage.

"Ikuno..." Futoshi's worried voice resounds.

She realizes her outburst, "I'm sorry about everything. If I wouldn't be like this..." goes on blaming herself.

"We were almost out of fuel...!" Futoshi refers to the cutoff of the thrusters integrated in the FranXX to avoid expiring the fuel altogether, but she remains in denial. Convinced of Ikuno's innocence, Futoshi takes it a step further. "...there's absolutely nothing wrong with you, Ikuno!"

"L-Liar..." Chlorophytum wraps her arm around her body, sliding onto the ground on her flank. Her only eye narrows, but slowly dims and turns violet, then fades to a droopy teal. She realizes her behavior and looks at the others slightly embarrassed. "Sorry..."

Argentea gets on her feet and proceeds to close to her teammate and arc an arm around her to help her stand. pushing her body against hers. "It's OK, Ikuno! We've made it together! This is what counts!" Miku cheers her up.

"A-AH-!" Chlorophytum grabs her vigorously blushing faceplate under Argentea's curious reaction.

"Sorry to interrupt your moans, but did you realize where we are?" Mitsuru snarkily remarks.

"Huh...?" Miku parts from Chlorophytum and looks around. Past a veil of white fog and a dim light filtering from a dust veil between her and the sun, the surroundings are all blue-colored. Why...?

A pair of eyes was looking at her.

"AAAAGH!" Miku yelps. "Klaxxosaurs!"

"Dead ones. Everywhere."

"Hah?"

She was looking at a Lehmann Class carcass, straight in the eyes. A giant hulking salamander shaped Klaxxosaur, looking her way. No, not really. The corpse was angled in such a way that seemed it was eyeballing her to see if she was prey. But life wasn't beating inside those eyes, not anymore. Instead, its giant figure lies on the side with the belly torn open by a brutal gash and with torn cybernetic tubes coming out from it like entrails gored by a thick, blue substance. Its 'blood'.

"Oh-" Argentea looks around some more and, past the humid fog scattered by the sandy wind that's gently blowing around them, finds another one. Then another three. Then, an entire sea of giant blue carcasses, spanning in every direction, as far as her eyes go. "-Oh no..."

Above them, the silhouette of the Gran Crevasse complex. A collapsed domed structure surrounded by three tall series of high blue walls greet them in the distance. Around it are raising tall plasma casters that were shot down during the battle, some still fuming from their melted holes. They resemble the build style of the klaxxosaurs, with blue details and tubes, drawing their rectangular shadows upon the endless sea of carcasses.

"It's... strange. Those gigantic Klaxxo guns were all hidden around the complex under the surface of the earth. I thought we conquered Gran Crevasse, but... I guess we never fully did." Hachi comments. "Now, we need to move. And quick, too. Don't stop for anything, if we hesitate, we will completely run out of fuel."

"Yessir!"

The group engages hover mode and crawls towards the general direction of the Nest, guided by their FranXX's navigation interface. Without it, it wouldn't be possible to navigate by eye in what devolved into a mass open-field graveyard. Klaxxosaurs of every shape and form clutter the scantly veiled horizon dimmed by the sand cloud, large mounds of smaller bug-shaped ones are outlining in the waves of silver fog that paint their surroundings, and every so often, a hulking defeated giant makes his forlorn appearance, sleeping deeply onto the fractured, sandy earth. Dotting the landscape, groups of deactivated violet VIRM soldiers lay unscratched between the lifeless klaxxosaurs' husks, like waiting to suddenly regain life and spring up an ambush. The trio is visibly nervous due to the eeriness of the atmosphere, so they stop at every strange noise and creak only to reveal it was nothing noteworthy.

"Klaxxo forces retreated far back into the Earth's mantle and the VIRM soldiers just... disconnected when their orbital controllers were wiped. I think we're safe," Hachi tells the team, trying to calm their nerves. "Move towards north-east and enter the valley on the next waypoint."

On their way out, the team quickly finds a path through the battlefield and eventually come to a wide clearing made of earthen sand, rocks and sparse brownish vegetation, surrounded by barren mountains, where the fog is less prominent. Given the 'checkpoint reached' signal by the navigation interface, another waypoint appears north next to the entrance of a mountain valley traversed by a dry riverbed. The three speed through the valley at high speed, proceeding northwards.

...

* * *

...

After fifty kilometers of distance traveled in barely half an hour, thanks to the high land speed of the hover mode, the team reaches the end of the river valley that opens up west in a desolate plain to the lost eye. After stopping the hover mode to get their bearings, Argentea and Chlorophytum fall to their knees without breath.

"I-I'm... tired..." Miku laments while panting.

"It's because you're almost out of fuel. Never happened?" Hachi asks her while inspecting the tactical holomap on his cube.

"Y-Yes, but..."

"Look!" Genista points a red and white... curved talon just past the mountains to their east.

"That's our destination," Hachi announces. "Get onto those rock formations on our right. I'm going to dial to the ground control from there."

The group rockets up the mountain crest. Upon reaching the top, a spectacle reveals to them.

"Whaaaaaaa...!"

"Wow..."

"Magnificent."

"Cool!"

Surrounded by the mountain range in the distance, a solitary, yellow and brown grassy plain where, like a sapphire encased on a golden crown, a round lake shimmers by the morning rays of light. Pure, blue water washing against a golden beach bordered by a flat and low savanna grass field that indicated that the lake was bigger in the past and shrunk over time, but nonetheless a majestic size to behold. At the center of the lake rises a stark-white tower shaped like an abstract bird, that curves over a cylindrical, massive white building dotted by tiny rectangular windows and hollowed out at the center like a donut, where are embedded three giant white spheres dotted by skylights. Four very long pear-white bridges connect the sandy beach with the base's entrances and wings made of metal surround the structure as protection give off the reason why it was called Bird Nest: three eggs nursed jealously by their parent.

The three FranXX plop down onto the rocks to give the panorama a good, long-drawn look. Hachi, in the meantime, operates the cube silently in order to dial through his request to the support team, using Argentea's antennas to dial through the support base in an airstrip placed the other end from the base.

"Finally. Signal's five by five." Hachi presses the send button, and a confirmation entry pops up.

...

Battlefield status uploaded to high command

MedEvac request order received

Awaiting confirmation...

...

A loading wheel appears beside on the last entry, waiting for a response from the support command. Meanwhile, Argentea spots a control tower west of the lake, build on top of a salt flat. Besides it, some kilometers away, a series of hangars aligned with a long airstrip with two runways and service depots. Her eyes stare at the top of the tower, then wander off to the hangars, trying to catch the silhouettes of the crew focused in preparing the planes for takeoff.

"Hachi, why there's no one there?" Zorome asks.

"Hmm?" Hachi mumbles, still intently staring the holoscreen's rotating wheel.

"Are those buildings the Support Center? It's so deserted here, where are the people?"

"People...?" Hachi glances half distracted to the general direction of the runaway. He gets up standing from the cockpit's floor and realizes through the panoramic screen vision that there's no living soul whatsoever on the strip. No ground crew, no security, no air transports taxiing towards the launch queue, no vehicles scrambling to load up the drones, no medical units, nothing at all. His gaze passes over the deserted runaway, and his eyes start to blink in confusion.

"Why? W-wh... I... am..." Hachi grinds to a halt. Processing what he saw with his thin eyes suddenly widening, he continues among stutters, "N-no, can't be. They must be... that the...the support units must be in the airstrip to the north... must be. D-Definitely-"

"Huh?" Zorome remains stunned at Hachi's sudden change of tone. "North?"

"Y-yes. Maybe I wasn't... informed of it... I guess it's too dangerous to scramble here, since the strip it's not guarded by any forces whatsoever... But the support request will be delivered regardless..." the commander pans to the holoscreen displaying the same loading wheel from before still stuck in waiting animation, unchanged since a minute ago.

"YAAAWN!" Genista does the same, "Oh, s-sorry...! I'm tired too now!"

"Don't tell me Kokoro, I'm about to pass out here..." Ikuno complains with a funerary tone. "Good that we're safe now, but I'd like some of that fuel you were talking about, Hachi..."

He suddenly resumes from his petrified state and turns to Chlorophytum, "E-Ehm... yes. We... we should go on and return to the hangars. There should be loads of fuel tanks lined up for use."

"Hawwwwkey..." Miku responds midway a yawn.

The three robots zip down the rocky hill and descend the flat basin in front of them, then hover onto the glittering water surface raising tall jets of water from below their thrusters towards the white Nest. Proceeding parallel to the long, white bridge leading to the front of the complex, the white building grows considerably to the eye's notice and reveals itself at least triple the height of a standard FranXX and with the internal donut approximately a kilometer of diameter. Slowly, the windows on the walls enlarge as the group closes into the front of the complex.

"This is humongous... I didn't notice that it was like this before." Ikuno comments.

"Yeah, we left before dawn, sure looks big now." Futoshi observes.

"...Where was the door?" Kokoro timidly asks.

At that question, Hachi summons from his cube another holoscreen and pushes a button onto it. In front of them, left to the white bridge, two squared black outlines appears onto the white building's wall and, after a hydraulic discharge, part in two doors. A white platform extends from the bottom and plunges into the water posing as an access ramp.

Climbing the entrance, Argentea and Genista peek from each side of the door and see a long, bright corridor expanding both ways, wide as much as two FranXX's worth.

"Helloooo?" Kokoro exclaims with her external speakers. The sound echoes all around, then comes back the opposite direction of the corridor. "HUH?" Distraught, she looks around for the trace of any living soul, but no one was waiting for them to return. "Oww..."

"Huuuh? Where's everyone?" Argentea steps inside. In front of her, empty FranXX retention cages were lined on the opposite wall, surrounded by folding catwalks and a long glass overhang on the wall over them. Magnetic railings are placed on the ceiling, from which hang steel robotic arms used for cargo transport. But still, no technicians or security in sight. She walks over the center and pivots to get a good look around her. "Helloooo?"

Neatly lined against the wall from which they were peeking from, racks full of FranXX standard magma lances, black helmets, spare body parts and stacks over stacks of skeletonized rectangular crates, made with hollow steel bars wedged in a lattice cube shape. At their center, orange-glowing sphere-like tanks with two handlebars and a protruding cylinder with a display on it.

"For now, we can proceed to refuel autonomously. Those dispensers in the skeletonized crates," Hachi points at one of the many cubes orderly lined up on stacks reaching the ceiling, "contain magma fuel and a pumping system for injection. Pick one up."

"Yessir!" Zorome acknowledges, and Argentea proceeds to grab the closest solitary one by its structure. Meanwhile, Genista and Chlorophytum get closer to her, witnessing in silence what their teammate was doing.

"Now, break it apart and collect the tank. Be careful to not drop it."

"Y-yes!" Argentea takes in her hands one steel tube in each hand and yanks them apart to release its content from the containing structure. After grabbing its handle, Argentea lifts it up and shakes it to check out the bright orange liquid inside, shining through the partially see-through material. "Wow..."

"Now, one of you. Turn around." Hachi orders Chlorophytum and Genista.

Chlorophytum and Argentea exchange an awkward look, "E-ehm... C-can I? I'm about to pass out..." Chlorophytum raises her hand.

"S-sure..." the violet mech blushes a little, then turns around to face away from Argentea.

"Now, Argentea, there must be a magma transfer port on the back. Press it."

After making a weirded-out expression, Argentea observes her teammate's behind. No access port whatsoever.

"Where is it...? I can't see it...! Hachi, are you sure-" Zorome questions.

"It's somewhere around there. You'll have to open it by touching it."

"Huuuh... Why- well, OK then!" He focuses and slowly slides Argentea's palms onto Chlorophytum's slender back to feel the lid of the access port. Chlorophytum jolts at her teammate's touch and turns vigorously red.

"Wh-what are you doing? Uhhhg..." Ikuno moans as Chlorophytum winces in discomfort. "B-be gentler!"

"I'm as gentle as I can!" Zorome exclaims embarrassed.

"ZOROOOME!" Miku scolds his stamen.

"Geez! I-I can't focus like this...! You're the one doing the touching!"

"Alrighty then!" Argentea grins and digs further her hands on Chlorophytum athletic flanks. The winged mech squats down to escape from her hardcore-fondling teammate while covering her completely reddened faceplate.

"Uhh!" Ikuno yelps, while her mech shudders wildly and her teal eye starts to wobble.

"Don't! Come back up!" Miku calls her back and, making to follow her, sees a squared outline just behind her ammo belt. "Ah, wait! Here it is!" Argentea yanks down her magnetic belt in an attempt to reach the port, and the purple mech yelps in surprise at her friend's unwarranted undressing.

"N-Nooo!" She wildly squeals as she's dragged to the ground while trying to get her belt upright, fighting Argentea's boldness that is given away by an absolutely sadistic mood painted on her face.

"Come oooon! It's just behind the beeelt!" Miku yells in a rapey tone with a streak of X's falling from the edge of her FranXX's mouth.

"Stop bullying Ikuno, you idiots!" Futoshi yells halfway between fluster and anger.

Hachi facepalms. This has gone very wrong very quickly. After an unmistakably annoyed grumble, he regains the reins of the situation with an inflexible tone. "Stop this immediately. We don't have time to play around, this is an emergency. Chlorophytum, stay still and let yourself be refueled. Argentea, stop that fooling around and open the port already."

"Awww... S-sorry..." Miku and Zorome apologize and Chlorophytum pouts at his commander's outrageous orders, but eventually Argentea reaches the access port by slightly pulling the ammo belt down. After touching it, the cover pops right out and reveals a female-type inlet. "Oh!"

"Now, take the magma tank and press the access button on the panel."

Argentea takes the tank and does so. A male-type nozzle comes out of the cylindrical doodad on the spherical tank and the pink mech pulls it out. An extendable tube twenty meters long and wide as much as her palm comes out from the cylinder.

"Good. Now, insert the nozzle into the inlet."

Chlorophytum widens dramatically her only eye. "Wai-"

"Alrighty!" Argentea yanks without ceremony the nozzle into Chlorophytum.

«FOMP!»

Chlorophytum instantly throws her head backwards in shock while her body freezes in place and falls on all fours. Her eye vibrates. "Ahh..."

"H-huh?" Miku bats her eyes slowly in "A-Are you OK...?"

"Ikuno! What's happening?" Futoshi yells, "Miku, what have you done?"

Hachi scratches his chin with a tiny, very tiny sliver of insecurity. "When you're ready, press the button again."

"Yessir." Argentea smile crumbles a little, then proceeds to press the button on the tank's interface. Its frame vibrates, and the glowing contents gets pumped through the tube into the nozzle into the violet mech.

"OH!" Ikuno shouts while Chlorophytum's mouth enlarges all the way open. Her body start twitching uncontrollably while her eye narrows from the top like she's in a state of deep trance. Slowly, the mech slides into her knees and lets out a soft moan while the magma fuel enters her. "Ohhhhhh, my," her mouth spasms wildly.

Argentea witnesses the scene with panicked eyes and a completely reddened out faceplate. "Ikuno! D-Did I made a mistake? How are you feeling? Ikuno!?"

"G-g-goooood," the winged mech's sides of her mouth curl upwards in satisfaction, "I-I'm... f-f-feeling... e-extremely..." then morphs into a completely doped out expression, "...good." Her hands cross onto her bust and grab her flanks with the wings on her gauntlets spreading apart like fans.

"Ikuno... what... the..." Futoshi is flabbergasted and can't piece a single sentence together.

Genista's face flusters and she hides behind her long, bulky rifle to not get noticed from her. Argentea's aghast expression tells everything about her understanding of the situation... completely nothing.

"Ha-Ha-HA-HACHI WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING!"

"..." Hachi blankly stares at the absolute rapture of her inferior, with a pearl of sweat on his forehead. "...I didn't expect this to happen." In that moment, he thought very badly of the Doctor about the way he designed the refueling system. What was he thinking about when he worked on that? It's completely illogical to connect the pistil's reward area of the brain to the magma refueling inlet...!

"I'm... fine now." Chlorophytum closes her eye and hangs her head forward, then grabs the nozzle of the spent tank and slowly takes it out from herself, not without some more twitching. "Hmmm." She closes the access port and, with a long-drawn sigh, tilts head towards Argentea with a meek smile.

Her eye is now shining of an unusual bright green.

"Your turn now," she says with a sexy voice.

"EEECK!" Miku's figurative skin goes on end and scuttles back from her. Chlorophytum slowly stands on her spike feet, her dynamite body on end, walks graciously to the piles of crates to take confidently a tank out. She shows Argentea the golden sphere dangling it in front of her face with a wanting smile.

"Nononononono!" Miku quickly turns around Argentea and tries to flee like a rabbit, but the violet predator bird jumps forward and catches her from behind, embracing her body-to-body with her wings enclosing both of them. "Where do you think you're going...?" Ikuno whispers to her ear, dangerously close to her faceplate.

"Ah! No! Ah!" Miku fumbles in panic.

"Don't worry, I know how it goes, it hurts only at first..."

Hachi is completely taken by surprise. Unable to process what's happening whatsoever, he stares at Chlorophytum's elated smile with countless sweat drops descending his face. Meanwhile, Futoshi is living the situation in first person from her FranXX's point of view and hangs his mouth open like a puffer fish. Ikuno readies her palm open, then...

«SMACK!»

...she spanks Argentea on her white metal butt.

The pink mech's body jolts, "OW! Chlorophytum...!" and her access port opens.

"Mmmhhh..." Ikuno's tongue passes on her smile's lips, then she presses the release button of the orange tank to extends the tube with and to bring the nozzle closer to Argentea's inlet.

"N-no, wait a moment! I'm not..."

"Don't worry, Miku, just relax. You're going to feel really good."

"Whahahahisisiaaah-" Zorome goes completely out of his mind and covers his eyes with one hand.

Slowly, Chlorophytum slides the nozzle into Argentea. She shudders violently in Chlorophytum's arms and her faceplate lights up elated in a sudden jolt, wildly surprised. "Owaaaa!?" She locks her scared stare with her teammate's, who beams to her a bedroom stare.

"Relax..." she whispers, turning on the pump of the tank.

The tank starts to vibrate, and the glowing orange liquid climbs the tube. As soon as the fuel enters the nozzle, she jolts once again in surprise, tightening every artificial muscle and widening her bespectacled eyes.

"A-aaawwwwwww..." As soon as her mouth parts, her eyes lose focus and he body slumps into her captor's arms, knocked out from the trance-induced pleasure.

"Heh... Look at her," Ikuno sweetly whispers to her ear, "so vulnerable."

She caresses Argentea's slender flanks, while supporting her body. Time passes, and the orange fuel disappears onto the pink mech. When the tank empties from all its content, Argentea's eyes slowly regain life and start blinking, to then react with surprise to her awkward stance.

"W...what happened? I feel so... light..."

Ikuno softly chuckles. "Welcome back."

"Ow-!" She protests when Chlorophytum slowly extracts the nozzle from her port. "What happened...? Oh, wait, no, uh- UHHH?" She suddenly shudders violently and grabs her chest with both hands, collapsing on her knees."Mmmmmmmhhhh!" Argentea loudly moans with a stream of X's descending from her eyes into her bright red cheeks, still in shock from a sudden surge of pleasure rocking her metal frame like an earthquake.

"Oh? It came later. Hm. I see." Chlorophytum comments after catching her fall once again.

"Uuuuuuhhhhh...Ikuno, you... meanie... N-never again..." She protests.

"Well, you did the same to me, sooo..." The unstoppable violet eagle, after helping the pink mech up on her feet, happily glances over to Genista. The black mech startles and nervously waves her hands.

"N-no thanks! I-I can do it myself!" Kokoro forces out a smile while trying to remain as calm as possible in front of the violet apex predator stalking the big prey, but her mech's bright red faceplate gives her thoughts away.

"Chlorophytum, stand down immediately." Hachi interjects with a hard-ball order, scratching his head out. "Given this... reaction from the refueling procedure, before inserting the nozzle make sure to disconnect the recipient from Driving Mode before starting the whole process, so we don't incapacitate anyone. Let's not get this happen that again. Got it?"

"Yeees..." Genista and an Argentea with circling eyes acknowledge the order, except Ikuno, whose FranXX eye returns teal-colored and pouts a little from the order just received. "Hmpf... yessir."

"Good," Hachi states out loud, "that was wholly unusual."

Genista sits on her knees and searches for the inlet port on her lower back. "Ah, found it!" she opens it with a light pressure. She then disconnects herself from Genista, which faceplate powers down, deleting the black mech's big-eyed expression, and leaving a metal texture in its place. With the help of a weirded out Argentea, the nozzle is inserted in her teammate's mech and the pump is activated. With no issue whatsoever, the refueling goes smoothly and, most importantly, without unnecessary groping, twitching or inappropriate moans. At the end of the procedure, the faceplate of Genista relights and shows once again her cute stylized face.

"Oh! I feel fine now, the sleepiness is gone..." Kokoro announces while feeling the mind clarity mostly related with a long night's rest.

"Good!" Argentea shows her the thumbs up.

«THUD!»

Both mechs turn to the source of the daft sound and see Chlorophytum collapsed against the wall. In visible difficulty, she claws into the metal plates to support herself from falling down on the ground, since her legs are no longer able to support her.

"Ikuno, what happens! Ikuno!" Futoshi yells.

"I don't... feel good... my head... is spinning..." Ikuno weakly wheezes as her mech's fingers slowly give in to gravity.

"You two, stabilize the mech." Hachi promptly commands the startled Genista and Argentea, who immediately hurry to narrowly catch their companion's shoulders before falling to the floor. After plopping her on the ground, they both dismayingly stare at her very dim teal eye and pained frown.

"Ikuno...!" Kokoro calls to her, but her reactions are slow and sluggish.

"Code 214, disconnect and proceed with Protocol 15. Use the supplies in your cockpit."

"YESSIR!" Futoshi replies, and Chlorophytum's faceplate dims out.

Argentea and Genista look to each other, then slowly let go of their teammate, now sitting upright against the wall. The Protocol Hachi called for Futoshi was the 'medical attention' procedure.

"Hahhhh..." Hachi lets out a loud sigh while rubbing his temples with his index fingers. "Apart for Chlorophytum, we're in a relatively good position." He then pans his view to the catwalks lined up on the retention cages and realizes that no one was watching. Normally, there should be at least the ground operations team and engineering team ready to serve the FranXX units. Why no one's there, even after all that commotion?

"First the airstrip's ground operations are missing, now the engineering team... Was there an 'Abandon base' protocol call I wasn't informed about...?" A forced sigh follows the cold silence after his words, "This is ridiculous. I'm the Commander in charge, I should have been informed beforehand," he says with a sliver of irritation.

"Yeah! Where's the people? Did they bail out after Papa ditched us?" Miku inquires.

Hachi doesn't respond, instead looks at his portable cube's interface.

...

MedEvac request order received

Awaiting confirmation...

...

"Why won't you..." he turns to a worried Zorome, "Argentea, drop me off on those catwalks over there," he asks pointing to the cages lined on the wall opposite of Chlorophytum.

"Yup!" Argentea stands up, proceeds to the FranXX support cages, tall as much as the robots themselves, and levels her head to the closest catwalk at its same height. "Hnggg...!" Miku concentrates, and the forward-facing plate of her head opens forward and hovers just above the steel structure. Hachi takes his cube luggage, disconnects the memory cylinder on its top and proceeds quickly towards the exit.

"Stand by, I'll be back in a second," he says as he clears the door. At Zorome's affirmative nod, he descends the folding steps on the back of the faceplate and jumps off, landing with a rattling metal noise onto the catwalk. Hachi turns back, and seeing the faceplate closing, he quickly walks towards the path past the FranXX retention cage that leads into a sliding, metal double door after a set of hanging stairs. After looking around inquisitively, he walks in front of the automatic door that promptly parts in two.

Hachi walks into the side of a very wide corridor, at least eight meters from wall to wall, spanning both directions at infinitum. He looks left and right and notices the slight inward curvature of the hallway, suggesting he was inside the central cylinder. High-tech cameras hang from poles fixed to the ceiling ever so often and, against the wall, wide LCD displays showing labeled arrows for directions and more sliding doors leading to the base's facilities. On the floor, blue and orange bands outline a steel dual-carriageway road, smeared with rubber marks from service vehicles' wheels.

"The systems are still on..."

He stays immobile for several seconds, trying to hear any noises echoing through the hallway. A repetitive sound far down to his right. A daft «thud» slowly and endlessly replaying. Hachi turns right and walks rapidly into a light run towards the source of that noise, that increases the more his steps resound the empty corridor, until he sees in the distance an automatic door similar to the one from which he had come through. It was opening and closing, blocked by something dark on the floor, making the «thud» noise as the door frame collided with it and parted again in an endless loop.

"What, someone dropped equipment on the floor..." As soon as Hachi comes closer, he manages to recognize the silhouette of the object. "Who would drop a boot on the fl-"

Hachi halts immediately on his tracks.

The boot belonged to a leg that peeks lifelessly from the room past the door.

His grip loosens and his cubic suitcase bangs on the floor and tilts to the side.

"A-ah..." He can't articulate speech as his bewildered breaths are suffocating him, but his legs start moving on their own. He runs towards the body and a surge of fire engulfs his chest and a thundering voice comes out from it, "SOMEONE IS INJURED HERE!" he shouts towards the other end of the corridor, trying to attract some attention on him and the person on the floor. As he gets close to him, he recognizes his uniform to be the one of the Guards, the military unit of APE. Black tactical boots onto black, wide cargo pants and a black hard-weave uniform with red inserts on the neckline. Over the uniform he's wearing an immaculate tactical rig and, on his head, a tactical helmet with a long ballistic mask without eye sockets. There's no blood in the vicinity... Did the soldier pass out?

Hachi presses the hold door button, squats next to him and places a finger onto his neck.

No pulse.

"What...? MAN DOWN! ANYBODY HERE?! MAN DOWN!" His shouting bounces off the walls of the corridor in an echo, but the call remains unheeded. Not hearing anyone back, he returns to the soldier and...

"Sniff..." Suddenly, Hachi's nostrils pick up the stench of burnt meat. He looks better on the soldier's face and notices a faint smile on it. He makes to slowly remove the soldier's helmet and the scalp in contact with it comes off from the skull like it was cooked. The stench worsens and Hachi stops midway while his mouth hangs open and trembles to the horrifying state of the soldier. Slowly, he resumes taking off the helmet revealing a horrifying spectacle: the skin above the soldier's temple was completely charred and his eyes exploded in a white goop from the heat. That happened while he was smiling.

"Oh... Papa..." Hachi's reaction is very mild, but despite his iron will his stomach flutters for a moment. The helmet has a brain computer interface that projects information and emotions directly into the brain. He never thought that the very powerful electrodes that are used to project the data past the skull could be overloaded like this.

"He's done for..." Confused, Hachi investigates the room the soldier came from, a locker room. As soon as he walks inside, an incredibly rotten burnt smell invades his nose and, past some lockers, four other corpses greet him, with the same tranquil and eerie smile of the previous one. They fell where they stood where they were cooked alive by the helmet.

That's why no one was responding. Everyone suffered the same fate as the soldier at the door.

"Oh, no... no, no, no..."

He runs out of the room and runs down the corridor. He approaches another room close by and, as soon as he opens its door, a daft burnt smell and dead smiles greet him. At least ten people lie slumped on the floor with their brain cooked by their helmets. Next door, a security station. More soldiers found dead. Hachi backs off the room and places his back onto the steel wall of the corridor, in a desperate need of accepting what he saw.

That virtual helmet is an incredibly important headgear. Comes in many shapes and sizes depending on the role of the wearer and every Adult, tactical officer, engineer, worker and soldier must have it on 24/7 in order to being able to participate with the collectivity. The main use of the helmet is being able to see in full neural augmented reality and communicate thoughts to others without the need to speak. In fact, the use of the vocal cords is a 'barbaric' practice and only the Parasites, along with whoever regularly comes in contact with them, are exempted from that axiom. That's because they represent the 'old humanity' and they must not be influenced by the new one.

Hachi rewinds his memory and replays what Papa said at the time of his betrayal.

 _There exists a form of pleasure that is gentle and perpetual, and you will now experience it._

Death.

Hachi's legs give in. His back slides on the wall and he ends sitting on the floor. He cups his hands onto his mouth.

"Papa... why? Why would you do that? Was it really necessary?" Hachi begs in a whisper, "Did you... really hated the human race this much?"

That's no coincidence. Those weren't helmet malfunctions. Everyone has been purposely killed and there's no doubt about it.

"...And now? I can't do anything by myself. How am I supposed to save them?"

No.

He's not dead like the others.

His heart is still beating furiously in his chest. He has still legs to run with, hands that can move and an unstoppable will to direct them, as it has always been. He will not abandon the people that looked up to him like Papa did. He will not make the same mistake as him. There must be a way to right all wrongs, and more importantly, there must be a way for everybody on the field to come home alive. Forget Papa, now his mission is to make this happen, no matter the cost.

Hachi jumps up standing and launches forward in a full run towards his cube and snatches the handle as he's passing close. His heavy footsteps stride back towards the FranXX retention area, where he left his team.

"Hachi! What's happening?" Miku asks him as Argentea meets him back with curious eyes and Genista turns towards him from watching the passed out Chlorophytum.

He's forced to do it. He must protect them.

"The base has been evacuated for a while," Hachi lies outright, "the support request will be taken care of eventually. But for now, we won't have any further assistance and we're going to make do with what we have."

"Ah..." Zorome reacts with dismay. "What... can we do?"

"Now that you're refueled, I need you, Argentea, to take several tanks with you and transport them to the battlefield, rescue Delphinium, explain them the situation and start recovering the injured FranXX crews left on the battlefield. Genista, I need you to take the supplies from the other crates around here and bring them to a landing zone I've already arranged. We need to get a hospital camp going as fast as possible to house the injured. I'll give you the coordinates as I get to the tactical command room."

"Yessir!" Both acknowledge, reassured from Hachi's confidence.

"That's all for now."

"Hm!" Miku smiles to him.

"Let's go!" Zorome yells.

"Yes...!" Kokoro agrees, "We'll be on our way," Mitsuru states.

"I will be keeping in contact shortly." Hachi nods to both of them. With apparent calm, he turns around and walks through the door. As soon as it closes behind him, he starts desperately running towards the top of the tower of Bird Nest.

"Failure is not accepted-!" Hachi incites himself.

...

* * *

 **Battlefield - END**

* * *

...


	4. CHAPTER 4 :: Outstretched hand

...

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 **Outstretched Hand**

* * *

...

Could be worse, could be better.

The situation, I mean.

Ichigo and I are still waiting down here. It has been at least an hour since I've turned on the beacon of Delphinium, and she's still sitting there, on the reclined faceplate, gripping her legs with her head lodged between them while giving me her small back. Her whimpers stopped a while ago... and in the meanwhile, I've lost the will to think lightheartedly. Hachi is still on the large, just like the supposed ground team he promised us he would send for our rescue. Why is it taking them so much time? At least my seat is very comfortable - unlike my stomped feelings, but I digress, it could have been way worse. I tried to blank my mind out for a moment, but this inner confusion keeps coming back to me like magnetized to the tracks of my train of thought in order to derail it.

Do I really suck that much?

Maybe she was just overwhelmed by her own emotions, maybe it was too soon, maybe it wasn't the right moment or the right words she needed - in any case, I feel like I've messed up somehow. Didn't she throw herself into my arms as I've offered them, anyways…? Well, I started by holding her by the shoulders, and then she fully corresponded as if accepting me… but then started to cry and broke off to run away… Does this mean that my hugs make people cry? Well, damn, this would be on another level of horrible…

Unreal, I just can't believe it!

What really came through her mind? If only would be that easy to read it like you read a book, I would be on the top of the world! I would know instantly what she needed and what to do to give her some respite, but alas, I have to trust my painful gut feeling. I know it's better to shove the blame elsewhere than to take the punch, but was she really thinking of Hiro and the fact he's currently missing in action? I shouldn't pin this on him personally, it would be extremely disingenuous and, more simply, immature. I'm also worried about him, damned if I know where he went! Always launching himself into trouble, that idiot…! Now even Ichigo is all worried and agitated! Ah- I said to not pin this on him, already failing at doing that? That might be because I fully know he's literally the first person that Ichigo wants to be with. And, to my sadness, I take second place. This situation is incredibly frustrating. Yeah, I'm lost in love for Ichigo, so I guess it's normal that this is quite painful, isn't it?

Actually, this situation goes way back...

It all started when we were in the Garden, the parasite nursery house, as little children soon to become FranXX pilots to fulfill our destiny as humanity's protectors. I was there, with Hiro and Ichigo as skin-bound friends, always together as the inseparable, magic trio!

Hiro, black short hair just over his confident eyes and a smile so bright that it left holes onto walls, was regarded by the Adults the most interesting child and the most promising soon-to-be parasite, and that was very true: he was intelligent and extremely charismatic, as much as perversely curious. So much curious that the caretakers would make double shifts to not leave him alone! Everyone respected and highly regarded him, especially the little Ichigo, who only had eyes for him…

Ichigo, the small and meek black-and-bluish-haired girl always hanging onto rabbit plushes of various sizes and softness, she had an entire collection of them that she never abandoned! Despite all you could think about how cute she was, a certain hot-blooded character showed from time to time, that's how I met her for the first time. She helped me in a quarrel and she was quite good at throwing her fists, that was love at first sight!

And, last but not least, me, Goro. The bespectacled blondie, taller than the average and I guess always over the books. Looking back, compared to Hiro, I tended to isolate myself a lot, but those two were the reason I didn't ditch people completely - can't say I was a perfect fit for the other children there. In fact, I hated their lot with a passion. One thing I owe to my friends is salvation from a bitter loner life, something I will forever be thankful for. They gave me so much, in retrospect, that I started giving myself, be it a word, a gesture or something more, to not let them down in any way, and to match the beautiful times with them during our stay there.

Time passed, then when we were fifteen years old, we left the Garden to take our place in society, Plantation 13's birdcage, where we would start our service in the FranXX Defense Force, and of course kick off our troubles. Hiro discovered he couldn't connect with other pistils and join the ranks of the parasites like me and Ichigo. At the forefront of such an absolutely harsh and shameful reality, the world literally collapsed under his feet. He suddenly fell from the stars he was painted onto as Ichigo was nominated squad leader, with me as her vice, instead of him. He became depressed and distant from us, literally and figuratively, by disappearing entire afternoons inside the green ticket around the boarding house inside the Birdcage. I just couldn't stand by and watch him in that state anymore, but any attempt from both in bringing him back ended in him further isolating himself.

Until one day. A certain girl had appeared with him and declared herself his FranXX partner from literally nowhere - extremely good-looking, big chest, teal eyes, pink long hair with extremely unsettling small red horns embedded high on her forehead, accompanied by a very odd outgoing personality and a thrilling catchphrase:

"Darling!"

Zero Two.

Of course, at that pink-haired girl's sudden appearance, Ichigo went completely nuts, and my headaches began. Because guess what? She was the one and only pistil that Hiro managed to drive with, so, of course he wanted to be paired with her. Thing is… there was a little but shoved into that decision. The horned girl was an ultra-veteran pistil, a special forces member and the so-called 'Partner Killer', the pistil that killed you after the third ride in her FranXX, Strelitzia. At the start I was skeptic about her nickname, I thought that was just one of the many empty legends that you could overhear in the Garden's playground, like that one where the Adults eat the disappearing children, or the other one where the caretakers are robots disguised as humans, and I treated it as such. How wrong I was!

One certain evening, after the second drive with the horned girl, in our shared room, I discovered him collapsed on the floor feverishly panting. Trying to making him breathe, I unzipped his collar, and… hadn't I done it! In front of my eyes comes the most horrifying thing I've ever seen: a blue, pulsating tumor was lodged on my best friend's chest, just above the heart! It was the effect of driving with Zero Two, I knew it. I became furious. After I reproached him about it, he stated that his own life was not worth living without driving a FranXX and he wanted to do it even if it meant to die. After that one, I was even more furious, almost fuming from the rage. But he pleaded me to stay silent about it, and… I begrudgingly did so.

It was that moment I realized he appeared more human than I envisioned him. Not the unphasable and collected person I've always known him to be, but a very fallible and vulnerable one. Someone that could throw away all his own life like that… his friends, his future, for something so reckless, and...! Who cares if you can't connect to a FranXX! If you're allowed to stay with us regardless, why wouldn't you take the chance? Aren't we that important to you? What's so important to choose over your own life?

Well… At the time I didn't understand.

I think I reacted this way because he wanted to go a different path than me and, after all the countless miles we've done together, one I couldn't follow. I was scared, but I couldn't bring myself to stop Hiro out of the respect I felt for him. He was, after all, following his intense desires as he's always done. He wanted to drive a FranXX more than living, after all. At the time I thought that he desperately wanted to get back his place here among us, to fulfill his role of pride in our society, but in retrospect, there was a little more to it. Something I experienced myself a bit later.

The same night, I was lying in my bed, sleepless. With Hiro reveling in pain in his bed, I couldn't catch sleep for the life of me, so I decided to sneak out of the bedroom to calm up a bit and wash myself up. After having quickly cleared the grump off my face, I wandered downstairs and sat on the porch in front of the flower garden to get some fresh air. After a while, I suddenly saw Ichigo and Zero Two walking towards the back of the greenhouse, one behind the other. The two started to talk, then to angrily yell at each other, and the discussion devolved into a furious Ichigo hitting Zero Two with a slap across the face. That's what you would call a 'whoa' moment!

After a while, Ichigo ran back onto the porch, wet as a cat, and started to cry, much like the aerial sprinklers of the Cage that activated while she was still out there. She told me she was convinced that Zero Two was really going to be the end of him. She was scared that she kill him outright in the next mission. I nodded in silence. I knew everything and more than she could imagine, but I couldn't express it using words. I knew exactly what she felt, but I couldn't let out my grievances because of that accursed promise. I felt boxed in, impotent. She feared to lose one of his dear friends and… much, much more than that, in retrospective.

Then, something stirred inside me.

At that moment, witnessing Ichigo crying her eyes out, I wanted to touch her. No… not entirely. I wanted to stay close to her. I wanted to hold her. Hold her tight, in my arms, where my heart warmly beats. What I couldn't do with my voice, I wanted to do with my body. To tell her that everything was alright, that everything would resolve itself, that it wasn't such a big deal. Even if it would end up untrue, that moment I wanted to make a place where we would be alone, just the two of us, far from that world of hurt, that future made of fear and confusion.

That time, I didn't do anything of the sort. And that's one of my biggest regrets, written on a long list growing by the day.

Anyways, weeks later, Hiro didn't die as the rumors suggested. During the Kissing Operation, his third ride on Strelitzia, he just fainted inside the cockpit... but sure it looked like he left us for good though, and the event shook Ichigo to the core with me the only lifeline to keep her anchored to reality. That's there I understood how much she cared for him, and that was as much as I cared for her. Then, checking on him the following day, his tumor was completely gone, like it was never there to begin with. Maybe that was really the work of a miracle…

Those were tumultuous times. We were younger, without aim, nor experience. Not to say that it was a year ago, so what I'm literally talking like I'm already 20? I'm 16, for the heck's sake! But going by memory sensation, it feels like I first sat upon this very cockpit forever ago. A lot has happened, so much that I feel radically changed from back then like I'm a whole new person from the ground up. There are some things I wish I would have the chance to go back and do otherwise, while for others I would repeat them exactly the same. For some fortunate reason though, that moment represented itself again like it was the first: the chance I was waiting for!

I wanted to tell her that there's a place made just for her, between my arms!

So I did, but, in the end, she fled from that place in tears. And all that's left now it's just the wish that I wouldn't have done that all along. Well, this seems already the bottom of the barrel already… Heh, the bottom of the chasm, how about it? Well, even if it would be that way, it's still a very advantageous position since you can't fall any further and there's only a way to go: upwards.

«Thud!»

Huh? Something dented the head of Delphinium…

"Ichigo, what's that?" I ask Ichigo pointing upwards. She turns around and faces me, but avoids my eyes and glances embarrassed to the side. Damn, this hurts.

"What are you talking about…?" She timidly asks, maybe she was still in daydreaming mode and didn't catch the bang on the cockp-

«Thud!»

«Thud!»

"That one - no, two."

"Oh?" Ichigo frowns and jumps up from the faceplate and looks above the helmet of our FranXX. Suddenly, she shields her face as some earthen specks fall on her face.

"This must be Hachi's ground team!" Finally, the time has come!

"What… There's no one up there, " she grumbles.

Huh? No one…? I get up and walk beside her, past the metal cockpit door, and look upwards the massive rock wall towering behind our mech. She's right, even past the thinly veiled dust clouds past the crumpled steel catwalks and structures hanging from the wall, I see no movement whatsoever. The lid of the wall, even if partially shrouded, is not warped by sudden silhouettes I'd expect to appear as the unmanned drones descend to retrieve us as procedure, and-

"GOROOOOO! ICHIGOOOOOO!"

WHOA!

That call smashes onto my eardrums and quakes the rubble all around us!

"WHA- DAMN! WHO'S YELLING…!" I shout back. The hell was that? Sure that Hachi didn't send us a hit team instead of a rescue one? Wait, isn't that the voice of…

"Zorome! We're here! Dial down the volume! You're gonna pop my eardrums!" Ichigo yells upwards, clasping her fists in anger.

"W-whoa, sorry, sorry! Your location signal didn't work!" Zorome's voice answers back without the killer decibels.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, another female voice loudly chastises the previous one, "Would you look at this child! Next time, fix that thing before horsing around! What if you injure them?"

Trying to pinpoint those voices is harder than it seems, the sound is echoing loudly above the sea of rocks all around us. But of one thing I'm sure, that petulant voice is very familiar!

"Hey, Zorome! Hi, Miku!" Ichigo and I yell upwards.

"Hi, guys! We're up here," she warns us, but for the hell of me, I can't see them! The rugged cliff edge is essentially as empty as I left it.

"Come oooon! What are you yapping aboooout? Two decibels more or less won't hurt!"

"Perhaps to you! Is it possible that you're always so immature!?"

"Heh, sorry, I'm deaf thanks to your constant yelling at my face, that sure can't be helped!"

"AAAAAH!?" taken by surprise, the female voice pouts away. "A-Ah… Hmpf!

And there they are, constantly fighting. What a duo…

Suddenly, in the middle of the wall above us, a head pops out of nowhere: a white-painted LCD faceplate acting as stylized face with pink painted glasses, a helmet with a light blue diadem sporting a pair of deep pink antlers - maybe twin-tails - rigidly shot in the air, and a warm smile beaming towards us. That's Argentea, Zorome and Miku's FranXX unit! Huh, I guess she's peeping from the edge of what once was a service tunnel of the Crevasse, but now just a well-hidden hole among the nooks and crannies of the devastated deep-excavated base.

"Wow, that's deep!" Argentea squints her eyes at us. "There you are!" Miku's voice becomes kind and the robot beams a sweet smile towards us.

"Hi, guys!" Ichigo greets them, "Hi, Miku, Zorome!" I salute her by waving my hand.

The robot weights us up, then her smile vanishes all of a sudden. "Is that one below you gone?" Miku asks pointing at the big violet robot partially buried underneath us.

"Yes! He stopped moving!" I yell from down here.

Argentea makes an OK sign at us, then Zorome asks her partner, "Miku, are we going to the bottom?"

"Yes, we do. Get into the cockpit, you two! Coming oooover!" Argentea withdraws from the opening. "Hey, wait… what do you want to d- NO! DON'T…!" Miku screams.

" Yahaaaaaaaaa!" Zorome screams and Argentea steps off the border and plunges into the void.

"AAAAAAAAAAHH!" Argentea's face is pure terror!

And mine too!

"Get in, get in!" At my call, I and Ichigo scuttle back into Delphinium's head to avoid being peppered by falling rocks. I peek outside a little, and whoa dude, that's the way to get down, Zorome?

Among the screams, Argentea gnaws the solid rock surface with her clawed glove and slides towards the bottom, among the ear-torturing screeches of her magma blades cutting onto the solid rock walls and Miku's shouts full of terror added to the mix. Despite Argentea's over-panicked face, that descent is controlled and so graceful, even while holding an unwieldy circular orange thing under the other arm - is that a fuel tank? Slowly but surely, after leaving three glaring red hot slashes for all the height of the descent, Argentea reaches the bottom and she carefully touches down onto the piles of rocks washed onto the solid rock wall. Such lightness! You'd think it's extremely improper for a hundred-meters-high metal mech, but no kidding, she's the most agile mech in our squad for a reason!

Argentea's eyes hover in a trance-like state, then explode into a manic rage!

"ZOROMEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Miku screams completely out of her mind, and a completely furious Argentea follows her pistil's emotions. "GOOD FOR YOU THAT I CAN'T CONTROL MY BODY, BECAUSE YOU WOULD BE SUPER, SUPER DEAD!"

"And how would have we, her highness, got down here otherwise? Do you see service ladders around here?" Zorome justifies himself with an extremely exquisite tone, like a proper connoisseur of the adrenaline feeling.

"AH- Who cares…! Who thinks like that! Only idiots like you do, that's right!" Argentea grips her head in proper desperation.

"Miku, Zorome! Stop-fighting-right-now!" Ichigo bossily walks out of the cockpit, "where's the ground support?"

"Huh?" Argentea beams Ichigo with a question mark face.

"The support! Where's the ground team?"

"I am the ground team." Miku promptly responds.

What?

Both I and my partner exchange between us a silent glance.

"Where's… the…" Ichigo stutters, "…where's the proper ground team?"

"Uhm, they're having issues!" Zorome vaguely explains. "We're here to fill in, Hachi asked us to refuel you and start some groundwork for the med-evac! It's quite the mess out there, you know!"

"Huuuh," Ichigo scratches her head. "What about Chloropythum and Genista?"

"They're fine, we got back all together with Hachi to the Nest! There were some communication issues with ground control so he went up and managed to get the rescue rolling!"

Ichigo scratches her head a little, then sighs, "OK I guess… Let's do this then."

"Wait a second…" Argentea closes to us, gets on all fours and lowers her face to our level and squeezes her eyes in a pout. What she's doin… WHOA! Her face is falling off! Ah, no… wait! Why is her faceplate opening? And-! While driving?! How do you even do that?

"Can you do that, too?" I ask my companion, that lightly shakes her head still dumbfounded. If Ichigo has even a more surprised look than me, then Miku knows quite the trick! The large faceplate of Argentea approaches the entrance of our cockpit acting as a platform and levels to our calves.

"Guys, get inside, we need to flip over Delphinium. The charging hatch is on the back!" Zorome announces. We wake up from our daze and, without hesitation, I climb the steel platform and throw a hand to Ichigo, that follows suit. With caution, we walk the steps and over the other entrance, and… whoa, they are still connected! How can they still drive with the cockpit open? That's totally weird!

"Don't stare like that, get inside!" Zorome invitingly waves us from his stamen seat.

"Inside… the cockpit!? Isn't that a problem?" I ask.

"Yeah, Hachi taught us this trick. He walked inside no problem!"

Oh, really? I thought it wasn't possible… Stamen and pistil sync rate and stuff- wait, Hachi got inside their cockpit? What happened at the time we were waiting? Well, that's for later. Let's get in.

"W-Wait! I'm not ready yet!" Miku's voice worriedly yells from inside the cockpit as I'm about to clear the door's high rim. I stop on my tracks, balancing I midair on my other foot.

"Could you guys make up your minds? Can we get in or what?" Ichigo blurts out annoyed beside me, clinging against my arm.

Zorome ponders a second, "…Ah! Quickly get inside, but slowly!"

We exchange a glance, then burst out in laughter.

"Aw, shut up, you…!" Miku embarrassedly

"Coming through!" I clear the jamb of the cockpit's entrance and I'm welcomed by Miku's squeals!

"W-WHOA! Don't move too much…! Ahhh!"

Among Miku's muffled yells, I and Ichigo sit down opposite of each other in the cramped space between the panoramic LCD cockpit display and Argentea's pistil support where Miku is resting on all fours, in a sleep-like state. That thing gets me every time. Her squeals are resounding from the speakers inside the cockpit, not her mouth. In fact, she's completely immobile, her body resting unresponsive on the pistil seat like she's sleeping on it, with her limbs solidly affixed to the interfaces below her. I guess it shouldn't be shocking news for me since I'm piloting my FranXX for more than a year, but I still can't help but feel a certain confusion at hearing her voice without her mouth moving.

At this point ignoring Miku's muffling, I and Ichigo sit down opposite of each other, wedged the little space between the cockpit and the omnipresent panoramic LCD screen wrapping around the interior like a sphere.

"We're ready, Miku," I announce.

"Oookkaay! Hngggg!" Miku squeals and the cockpit closes back up without Zorome's even flinching a finger from his console.

"Done! Let's dig Delphinium out!" she exclaims.

"Righto!" Zorome mirrors her.

Then, after taking off her gloves, Argentea starts to dig Delphinium's body barehanded, shoveling away with her fingers those immense pieces of concrete much like gravel. Little by little, blue glances appear among the rubble and my mech's body come visible: with blue and white as dominant colors, her body is a very feminine figure with a small red short tie for added style, large shoulder guards and large plates covering forearms, solid legs and a short skirt made of Magma energy propellers. There seems to be no damage! That's a true miracle, I expected at least some dents, but there's not even a scratch! Tough stuff, huh?

Delphinium's head is adorned with a white helmet, sporting a blue trim and a dark blue trident tiara on the front, from which protrudes a steel red shield acting like a fake red hair that falls on the right eye, for added protection. Like every FranXX, she has cheek antennas that protrude to the side much like pointed ears. Not even the head seems damaged, I wonder about the faceplate: because the door of the command station is open, I can't see it clearly even from here. When closed, an LCD screen panel on the face simulates the expression of the Pistil depending on its neural waves, like the real deal, mimicking the most natural way to communicate to other FranXX, facial expressions, and promote team awareness of combat situations. That'd be a shame if Delphinium had damage right on her pretty stylized face, and even a crime, as that's where Ichigo's smile resides.

"Uggggh! "After the grinding of metal crawling on asphalt, Argentea drags Delphinium out from the rubble as the rock scatters on the ground and spreads with deafening echoes. Uncovering the VIRM's soldier violet corpse, Argentea stops on her tracks and a pearl of sweat rolls down Zorome's temple, then through his anxious face. A bit reproached, Argentea wears again her clawed gloves, approaches the violet thing, raises its fist and «BAM!», impales right through the upper section of the VIRM soldier's torso with her white-hot fizzling claws.

"Don't you dare wake up again, you violet trashcan!" Zorome yells then turns to me smiling viciously. "Just to be sure, OK?"

I nod vigorously. To hell with that thing!

Argentea grabs Delphinium and topples her on the side with more loud creaks, then she presses on its back, and pops open a hatch in the armor where a screwed-in nozzle appears from below. Unnoticeable, if you didn't bother to read the FranXX models' technical manuals as I did. Then, our big pink mech takes the circular tank from the handle and busts open its skeleton frame to reveal the glowing fuel tank, unscrews its top and pulls out an extensible tube ending in a nozzle that is then placed onto the service opening. Then, suddenly, Argentea's hand stops in midair.

"What's the matter?" I ask turning again to Zorome. What I find, is a face redder than a tomato, almost glowing white-hot.

"N-Nothing…!" he fumbles. What the-

"Z-Zorome, d-do i-i-i-it! Th-There's no one in t-there…! I-i-it's-safe!"

What, even Miku is stuttering?

"A-a-a-alright!"

What the hell's going on…?!

Argentea's hand holding the nozzle trembles on the way towards the refueling port, hesitates, then inserts it with a «FOMP». Zorome instantly freezes, as expecting something to explode. Second pass and both he and Argentea look like being ready to be assaulted any second.

"Hello…?" I call him to try and wake him up, to no avail.

"Whewwww…" Eventually, the tension fizzles out.

"What was that?" Ichigo asks a little taken aback, robbing my words. "Did you expect Delphinium to jump at you?"

"Ehhh… N-Nevermind! Don't worry about it!" Miku says as Argentea presses the button on top of the shining canister: the tube lights up orange, and the bar indicator shining on the tank is quickly emptied in a handful of minutes. As soon as the last droplet of orange liquid disappears inside Delphinium, the apparatus is detached and her outlet is closed back as it was before.

"Ahhh, done!" Miku rejoices. As soon as the tank is shoved away, Delphinium is dragged into a seated position, then Argentea's face inches forward and opens again the cockpit. The faceplate drops just below Delphinium's still open one and Zorome .

"There you go, clear!" Zorome exclaims.

"Thanks, man, going in!" I announce, and Ichigo follows me outside. Whoa, we're much higher than before… and my mech's faceplate is still too low to jump on without getting a sprain. "Zorome, could you go a little lower?"

"Yeah, sure!" While looking past us, his face concentrates and Argentea lowers further as we grapple onto the handlebars inset into the rim of the platform, which slowly lowers to a more easier height to fall from. I help Ichigo down by accompanying her below with my arms, then let myself slide down on my own.

"Hop!" and «Bang!» go my boots on the steel. Ichigo doesn't waste any time and walks inside and hops onto her seat, made to be effectively ridden on the belly, while I walk towards mine, a well-fitted upright seat with lovingly soft, blue gel-padded cushions. Ah, I missed you, Delphinium!

After sitting down, time to see get a reading on my FranXX. A flick of a switch, and above me appears a series of holographic displays with countless bars and graphs slowly inching up. The situation is clear as day-

"Fuel at 80%. FranXX engine at an operational minimum. Support systems all green. Neural interface initializing."

"Nice, Goro. In the meantime, hit the faceplate switch."

"Yes, ma'am." My finger dashes onto the correct button on the armrest beside me and the platform comes right up as I called it without hitches or unnatural grinding sounds. We crashed from several kilometers of free-fall, but there's not any system damage! Damn, the FranXX are sturdy! That one or the VIRM soldier is soft as a teddy bear, which I don't think it's the case… I hope. Since Ichigo would be capable to bring that thing home for her collection… I sure hope.

"Connecting…" she announces, and inserts her pistil shoes into round crevices at the base of her seat, and with a «Clack!» the interfaces at the base of her soles connects with the ones of the FranXX.

"You're online," I say as a holo-notification hits my eyes. Ichigo leans forward on her seat, inserting her hands in another set of holes on the front and a deaf «Clack» signals that her wrists are clamped down by a pair of security retentions. Right now, Ichigo is spread onto her seat and… her butt… is floating… right in front of… my f-AH! Damn, knock it off Goro, what you're staring at…! Keep yourself afloat! Why is it like I'm becoming worse at keeping my eyes off her body by the day? Shouldn't this be normal by now?

Although… I never actually realized this was such a nice view! Agh-

"T-Tac-Screen ready. Turning it on." As I do, I hope the panoramic screen can help grab my attention away from her, I've got to work on my focus somehow… As the screen turns on, I can see Argentea's gigantic as smiling face staring right at us, waiting for us to work out the connection and activate Delphinium. Talking about that, I should activate Ichigo's suit, so we can connect to each other. That stuff is usually done remotely by the command station at the orders of Hachi, but there's a local emergency procedure for that.

"Ready for the suit?"

"Yep, go on."

As I flick another switch and her collar disassemble in half, one part sliding upwards and covering Ichigo's head like a hoodie, where its LCD screen lights up. All the while, her spinal exoskeleton tenses up to support her back and her two femur armor pieces detach and rotate towards me, transforming into two handlebar-like controls connected directly to her… eh-ehm, behind. After shutting down the all the holographic stuff still hovering around, it's connection time.

"All green! Ready when you are, Ichigo!"

"…Yeah, we can go." I grab her controls with both hands.

"Manual connection in 3... 2... 1..." I simultaneously press two buttons on both handles, and the connection handshake begins.

An endless-like moment.

Ah, such familiar disorientation. While my heartbeat raises dramatically, a whirlpool stirs my brains accompanied by a vaguely fluttering sensation on my temples, all the while I feel my consciousness parting with my body. Suddenly, my vision fills with countless little explosions of colorful static, then a liquid phasing through me as Ichigo's mind pours inside my own. After such frenzied dance of lights and sensations, my eye vision returns.

The first thing I see is Ichigo relaxing her head and shoulders like she entered a trance, and her neural hoodie lighting up with two holographic horns protruding from it. She's sprawled on her tummy and anchored to the cockpit, so she's OK. Her spine exoskeleton lights up orange and the display behind her collar shows both our connection quality bars, one for me and the other for her, hovering stable on the 90-110, as usual. A feeling of pressure creeps into my temples, giving me confirmation that we have entered a mental connection with each other… it's hard to describe, but it's like not being alone in my mind anymore. I can feel… something slowly filling my mind… yeah, I can feel her…

Connection successful.

…Uh? Wait! There's some connection noise! The flash of a shooting star in the pitch darkness of the night. Something that calls…

Hiro…!

"AGH-! What the-!" My hands feel like being twenty kilos each, as if someone were pressing down on them! All the weight of the connection is dumped on me and it's pulling me to the floor, like an avalanche crushing my back! Something's wrong! Our connection quality bar is severely fluctuating, I'm losing the link to Ichigo…! She can be harmed by this, I've gotta get a grip!

"Uhng!" You can do it, you can do it! "Uhg-uuuuuuuu-uhhhh!"

Wooow, jeez! I managed to stay upright! This is what I would call a superhuman effort! Fortunately, I can keep my balance literally and figuratively, by not slumping to the floor like a squished muffin and let the connection drop off. That was close!

"Goro...?" I can hear from my right Ichigo's preoccupied voice. "What's up...? Is there something wrong?" Turning to the side, the computerized image of Delphinium shows me her worried face.

"I… I'm…"

What do I tell her?

Oh no, we're connected! I must close my eyes and silence my feelings, she can definitely feel them!

Damn, this is not good! Don't look at her in the eyes!

I have to calm down right this moment. This is dangerous.

I know, I know, he's all over your mind now. I know perfectly, it's always been like that. But it's not a big deal. It's not… a big deal. I mustn't lose heart... I can do it. It's not impossible. Breathe calm and steady, Goro, calm and steady. You know there's also a place for you in her heart, you have to just to keep looking for it! Perseverance rewards! You just have to be patient, man!

A place for my feelings to blossom...

I will find it, definitely…!

A soothing sensation finally pervades me, and the weight onto my shoulders lifts.

Ironic…. That hope has always supported me, and yet here I am, almost failing to connect to her. Is this what would I do after all these years, just throw myself down like that? Come on, I can do better than this!

I open my eyes and see that my connection has stabilized, as the pressure on the controls has finally loosened, just in time.

"Nothing," I lie out of my teeth, purposely not looking at the screen on my right. "I think I've messed up the procedure, sorry about that…"

"Hm…" Ichigo's low tone still indicates a slight worry. "If there's something wrong just tell me…"

"OK." Something wrong? Nah, don't worry about it, Ichigo. Well… I just thought that the chasm I fell into had a bottom. Now… I'm not so sure anymore, but I won't bother you with those stupid insecurities of mine.

"Hellooo? Goro, is everything fine? Didn't you take a blow too much?" Zorome's video feed appears from the opposite side of Delphinium's, which is actually now Ichigo's mental image.

"Uh, no. Just a sudden Para-Capacity fluctuation."

"Mmmmh," Miku mumbles interested, "really?"

"I feel fine," Ichigo cuts in lapidary. "Looks like that purple thing is really soft."

"Ah, 'dunno, I was busy punching them, not sleeping on them," remarks a really ruffled Miku.

Uh oh, That… was a sideswipe.

"And yet it didn't calm you? That's why Zorome has a really hard time with you…"Ohhh, Ichigo shoots a surface to air missile at Miku! Is this the most dangerous cat-fight ever!?

"You...?" Argentea hangs in place with a dazed and bewildered expression, then recomposes her demeanor and raises her chin, "Hmpf!" That was super effective! On my left, Delphinium's expression carries a gigantic smug grin. Ichigo-Miku is 1 to 0.

Argentea looks on the edge for shooting another back, but then she squares my partner ironically. "Would you look at yourself... t-this time, you can get away with it!" She flickers her hand like a noblewoman.

Miku gracefully concedes!

"Scary…!" Zorome takes note. Yes, that's proper scary.

"Whatever, now let's make to the matter at hand. Don't we have a task from Hachi?" I ask, and mimic in my head the instinctual gesture of moving my hands down to the ground, without actually moving them. Delphinium follows the same gesture, plants her hands down to leverage herself upright. I follow mentally the movements until we're up on our mech's feet in a second. This neural control scheme is really fantastic! Ichigo on the other end has a higher degree of control than me since she's literally impersonating Delphinium, but we need both of us to follow each other's 'mental image' to sync the mech to our movements. That's the Para-capacity system for you, as natural as breathing!

"Yeah, the battlefield. We have to help and gather the remaining FranXX forces and look for survivors. Injured have the priority!"

"Of course! We're going to help you as soon as I recover and deliver the other fuel tank that I brought. There's a rallying point in the outer ring where we need to gather the wounded, Hachi said!"

"Is there? Do you have the coordinates?" I promptly ask.

"Yes, there you go!"

The map opens up floating just before me, and the target location appears right outside the inner circle of the complex.

"Good. We're going to be on our w- wait, where are our weapons?"

I scan around, and something blue catches my eyes protruding from a group of rocks; we approach and remove the stuff pinning it under the rocks and reveal a blue lance with an orange blade and a vertical handle. Grasping if firmly, just a single, decisive movement uproots the blade from its resting place. Fortunately, without damage… the sword-lance long almost the height of its user didn't seem to have bent on impact. I swing some more and the grip feels still lively both wielded underarm and used as a one-handed pile driver or swung around by its pole. Free to be in my hand, its blade extrudes an eerie orange glow, indicating that it's still active and functioning as I left it. But wait, thing is, there should be two of them. Where's the other? Ah, yeah, I used it, right?

I grab the VIRM soldier's foot from the avalanche and uproot its corpse with ease: the second lance is still firmly embedded into his lower chest. Prying it out using my foot, I tear it out from the lifeless corpse. Where did you go, you two? Now that we're together again, dear Envy Shops, we're definitely dangerous again!

"We are operational! Now, in order to get out of here…" Ichigo announces as she walks towards the center of the chasm. I know how it should be done, and I clearly feel through our connection that she wholeheartedly agrees to my plan. We're going out of here with style!

"To get out of here… the tunnels?" Miku's response bends into an interrogative, while her gaze crawls up the height of the slope.

"No, from the scenic route," I smile.

" Hehehe!" Ichigo chuckles after me.

"Ehhhh…?" Zorome moans. He doesn't get it... Oh come on, get some imagination going, dude!

Delphinium, for all the answer, kneels down at my will. I concentrate my mind and, while closing my eyes, I imagine a swirl of running water inside my chest, then a warming heat suddenly ignites inside it. My heart rate goes up and my blood pumps molten heat through my vessels, from my chest to all of my body. Some moments more, and a wild rapture takes hold of all my body muscles, and a thunder traverses me from the tips of my hair down to my feet. Everything that happens inside my body, happens inside our FranXX: this is us, me and Ichigo, summoning the unstoppable power of Delphinium!

«BLAM!»

I release the energy through my body and the rocket exhausts that make up the skirt of Delphinium ignite radially. Red and orange blazes explode violently from its nozzles, fracturing the ground below us and kicking up a thick cloud of dust. I shoot a look upwards and, among the thicket of steel beams and crumpled catwalks freely hanging over us I see a clear speck of bright blue. That's the target!

"Uuuugh!" Argentea hugs the perimeter of the chasm with her back to avoid the wave of dust.

"See ya soon!"

"Goro, full power, let's go!"

"Got it! LIFTOFF!"

I release everything I've got, and an explosion shocks the air! Delphinium accelerates ludicrously and both my bowels and my spine feel the pressure of takeoff, fighting gravity and gloriously winning! I keep my eyes locked to the grove of steel above us, then pull my arms inward to minimize air drag and acquire as much speed as possible and, in a second, the iron thicket is literally coming right towards my nose. No worries! I quickly fire Delphinium's skirt thrusters and dodge them like the nuisance they are, those huge steel beams, just a children's joke for us!

Like a fiery dancer inside an iron forest, we ascend the roots twirling and bobbing at the sound of our thrusters' precise corrections. The air is much cleaner than down below, but some dust still hovers around us, shining like golden specks by the bright rays of light descending from above like columns, grappled by the dark vines of an upside-down tree feeding directly from the sky. It's really hard just to not awe at the world inside that place, too bad we're just a glow of red passing by. Upon ascending, the window to the skies widens with spasmodic speed, closer and closer, bluer and bluer, then here comes the bang of us threading the last of the needles. We're out!

Ah-! The sun! Such heat! It sure heals the heart! Bathed in the warmth of its blinding glory, I feel like smiling radiantly to the sky and exchanging greetings with the giant yellow disk up there, welcoming us so gently!

Ah, no, wait, I'm still ascending! Shut the thrusters, quick, we don't have to go literally to space! I don't want to blast off from the atmosphere (yet), so I guess the fun's over. Shame! I switch off my rocket engines and, spreading Delphinium's body horizontal, I wait for gravity and the air drag to kill my velocity vector. At the apex, I switch on Delphinium's hover mode, so we hang suspended in midair like having a nap a few kilometers off the ground.

I feel alive! Best sensation ever! Suddenly, full to the neck of adrenaline, I feel the need to let it all out and laugh with ecstatic happiness, and Ichigo does the same.

"Hah! Hahahaha! Magnificent! Why they never let us fool around after the missions?"

"Hahaha! Because Adults are cheapskates…! Hehe! Yeah, flying is absolutely fantastic," says Ichigo with her breath altered by the cathartic experience. Some excitedly laughters after, she sighs and switches to her usual all-business mode: "Ok that was awesome, but let's leave playing for later. We're going to look at the situation from here!"

"Yes, ma'am."

At her cue, I rotate forward and activate Delphinium's feet thrusters to balance ourselves upright. I look through the interior piloting screen of my cockpit what's down below, and…

What's before me triggers a harsh return to reality.

"Oh..."

Below us lies what's left of the Gran Crevasse. Before, an 8-kilometer wide domed structure, riddled with concentric fortifications and terraces, now just a lonesome wound upon this very Earth. I can see the hole in we were trapped into, directly below us, reaching the limit of the planet's crust: an immensely large and deep abyss, like dug by a divine hand that gouged the ground in a single gesture of violence. All around it, there's rubble, giant columns of concrete, and a mix of rocks and brown earth were immersed in red lakes and fiery rivers of Magma fuel, which mumbled away with its characteristic orange light, coloring the chaos below and making it closer to a hellish landscape. Then, crowning the rest of the perimeter lies a dense labyrinth of unroofed blue and black rooms and corridors organized in a fractal design, trumping imagination by a long shot.

Immense, irrational, filled to the brim but helplessly desolate, a heartfelt monument to destruction.

All around the blue outline, the disheveled earthen soil was scattered with the blue, black and violet countless corpses of the Klaxxo and VIRM soldiers. A scene in absolute silence: the canvas of an impressionist still life, painted with erratic and confused brush-strokes.

I'm devastated. Not a single sign of life in sight, nor of movement lies before me.

But…! There must be someone alive down there!

"Turning on radio detection." After proceeding to press a combination of keys on the console near my seat, about forty red triangles appear in the augmented-reality interface before me, scattered all around the chasm and dotting the blue and purple below like poppies in a sea of morning glories.

"I can see something… Yeah, there they are. There's someone moving in a… plateau to the east, but many others aren't…"

"Let's get to them!" Ichigo orders.

"Acknowledged."

Alright. We dive in.

Switching off the hover engine, gravity takes us again and, at the same time, I re-lit the skirt thrusters into afterburner mode. I let the acceleration kick my bowels with a tickly sensation as we dramatically plunge towards our destination in a parabolic descent. This is the speed I like!

«BOOM!»

And there goes the sound barrier. Better go level to the ground now. Halfway there, we transition into grazing flight. Being closer to the earth makes me realize how much of a mess is the battlefield below us, even passing at full speed and hundreds of meters up; the landscape feels absolutely mental. I wouldn't dare land even under vital necessity! Where's the space to do that anyway…? Shapeless masses Klaxxosaurs intertwined together as ivy fill the ground in chaotic patterns, and squinting my eyes I can definitely make out the blue monsters' animal-like shapes when not torn asunder and lingering in wide pools of their own blue… blood, I guess? That sticky substance which the core explodes into when punctured. I wouldn't be feeling safe around those at all, even when dead.

There's something else, too. Those VIRM mech soldiers. And not one or two, the battlefield is completely littered with the violet things, filling to the brim every empty spot left by such blue hulks. Then, every once in a while, a mass production FranXX pops up in the middle of the chaos, with their unmistakable orange helmet cracked and black armor skirt, helplessly lying on the ground with limbs torn apart, abandoned like a bruised and broken marionette…

"Keep tight, we're going to be there in a moment!" I incite. The sight of that disabled unit staunchly reminded me we can't afford to be slow. Suddenly, using a mental cue, Ichigo drags my attention towards the front and warns me that she spotted an unnatural open space in the thick of the former battlefield. We're getting closer and closer to the place where the moving red chevrons on the interface were.

"Wait! Let's turn left and decelerate for a landing!"

"O-Oh! Sure!"

Yikes! But, even where? Oh, there it is! As an improvised runaway, that thing over there looks spot-on. I fire the thrusters retrograde and our flight stalls. I let my legs come forward and perform a running landing on the long body of a Klaxxo-serpent's carcass with its head sticking out high onto the surrounding confusion, and the momentum launches us up along its body. With quick and dexterous movements dictated by pure instinct, we get a foothold on its unstable head to get a good visual of the situation.

And… there it is.

Made by lines of improvised white gel beds hastily arranged onto the sand, between red rocky flashes, there lies a rushed medical camp in the very middle of the plateau: that's the spot Argentea told us of, the rendezvous point for the evacuation. Examining it with our magnified vision, it looks like it's already populated, although there are far more beds than occupants and even fewer the ones tending to them. At the border of the plateau, more gigantic orange fuel tanks and an open black cargo container wide as a room with handlebars on top, and someone's zipping between it and the hospital camp, lugging what I would say are suitcases with intravenous bags, some first aid kits, automatic defibrillators, more stacks of gel beds…

Ichigo and I silently stare helplessly at the picture before us. Eventually, I came to notice the other parasites and their forlorn expressions, filling the emergency camp with pure sadness and abandon. Still in their driving suits, bloodied, torn and bruised, gathered around their teammates' beds, they either silently stare into nothing or slowly but excruciatingly wither out in pain against some solitary rock in a painful-to-look display of mourning. Some others lie before their fallen companions with undecipherable eyes locked into the spotless white blanket their teammates lie under, wishing for that imperceptible movement, a faint hope for their long life companions that didn't make it, others desperately hold their injured pistil's or stamen's hand as if to anchor their lives to themselves, profusely crying in fear of them crossing the other side without a goodbye.

"Oh, Pap…" My voice immediately halts at my stomach shooting up bile up my mouth. "Nevermind…!"

That was supposed to be a plea to our creator, but…! Not in front of this! This is his doing! It's all his fault! This is the result of his turn-face! My words will never praise his virtues or declamate his holiness in my whole life if there's anything worthy of praise left after today. I had some hope that he would be keeping his word and give us freedom after what he did to us, but this trumped it all. There can't be a right amount of excuses for this!

"I didn't fight for this…! Why…?"

My words fall into the staunch silence of the cockpit, with Ichigo's feelings of sadness mixing into mine.

"This is not the work of drones. No recovery shuttles or land vehicles either… Other FranXX must have cleared it," Ichigo notices.

"I guess."

"Well, the other squads sure don't fool around, too. Look at the size of this place." Ichigo praises the peerless training of their brothers-in-arms.

"…Yeah. I wonder where are the adults when you need them the most."

«CLANG!»

What?

There's something moving the left of us! Don't tell me there are enemies still alive? With the flick of the wrist, we activate our double lances and ready our stance towards the direction of the sound.

«CRUNCH!»

A non-descript mass of blue is bulging from the sea of Klaxxos below us!

"Ready to strike!"

«POP!»

"WHAAAH!"

Huh?

A FranXX.

A standard model, to be exact. Resurfacing from that mass of metal like she was scuba-diving.

What…?

"Oi, is there something wrong?" she asks us with a very dreamy girl's voice. "Any alive Klaxxo around?"

What the-?

"N-No? I thought you were one," I say back to her.

"Ehh, not quite, although I'm so drenched in their goop I can be mistaken for one, hehe! I'm working on digging the units out of this mess!"

"Oh, I see…" I switch on the name tags on the screen, and I can see her denomination. "…Solidago."

"Yep! But, wow! That's a nice FranXX design!"

I feel Ichigo blushing a little. "T-thanks! I'm Code 015, and my stamen is Code 056. We are unit Delphinium, team leader of squad 13."

"Woow! Those are some low numbers, are you from SF?"

"…SF?"

"The special forces!"

"N-no, why do you ask?" Ichigo asks high-browed.

"Custom design, low codes… C'mon, the good stuff!"

"N-Nah, we have a Plantation."

"Oh, I see! Uhh… Oh, yeah! I'm Code 376, and this is my stamen, Code 371, squad leader of Plantation 133."

"Greetings." A low, droopy voice comes from my right. I turn, and here comes a holographic screen where the face of a boy with black and very curly hair appears before me. His thin, tired eyes cross with mine, and I don't fail to notice the two black bags so very dark against his white complexion, looking almost like he drew black chalk under his eyelids like in those warrior rituals of old. That would have looked really old-school if a wide, square jaw dug by a downturned mouth wouldn't suggest that his state was a hundred percent due to combat stress.

"…Nice to meet you, 371…"

"Me too."

His voice feels like low, raspy, very saddened. Such a portrait of unhealthiness… his eyes show it most of everything else. He returns the salute with a nod, and after silently examining me, he eventually takes word.

"Wait, I saw definitely some custom FranXX like yours a while ago."

"Huh! Really?"

"Yeah, we did!" his pistil interjects. "A black-caped one with a big gun and a cute, pink-striped one with horns!"

At the news, Ichigo beams her a hopeful look. "That's Genista and Argentea! I'm their team leader, was there a eagle-looking FranXX with them? Are they still around here?"

"Uh, told you, 371!" she refers to her stamen, then returns to us. "Yeah! But not the eagle-looking one, they dropped off the supplies and some more juice tanks earlier!"

Ah, there's no sign of Chlorophytum, though? Damn, I should have asked Argentea when I had the chance…! Now, I hope they would be following us shortly though. I can't wait to rejoin my teammates, so I turn on the comms interface and dial a radio call to them.

"Ah… Is the black one still here?"

"No, they said they would be returning to the Nest for more stuff…"

The call stalls immediately. 'No connection available,' says back to me the holoscreen.

"W-what? No connection…?"

"You just noticed? We're isolated. Satellites were shot down and only short-range works," the gloomy stamen chimes in.

We're out of range of each other? Damn, don't you tell me about it… What a pain.

"Ohhh… well, I hope they return soon." Somehow, the first thing I'd wish to be able to do is to welcome them back, but given the situation I guess it's for the best that greetings are going to be for later.

"Anyways, Commander Hachi tasked us to supervise the gathering of the injured until the evacuation starts," Ichigo explains, "we might want to keep ourselves in touch and get the groundwork done before the adults come in to rescue us."

"Oh, you too? Nice! We're together, then!"

"Can we get a headcount of each team still standing, so we can organize ourselves a little? And, by the way, where's your team? Are they able to help?" Ichigo asks out.

"Ah…" Solidago's bright smile dissipates instantly.

"…What's the matter?" she asked anyways, but Ichigo noticed her reaction. Me as well.

"Uhn… Eh… Ehhh," she stutters, and somehow I can perceive some tension on the body of Code 376's FranXX. Solidago's hands begin to shake, at first imperceptibly, then her spasms worsen vigorously by the second. She clasps them together, but the trembling overpowers her efforts to not show her reaction, and instead, her shoulders start to shudder. Finally, her smile returns, but trough the slit of her busted visor allows me to notice the absolute suffering lingering inside her eyes, busting out of her like water out of a broken dam.

"Ehehehe! They're f… f…they're… fine! Heh… Ehehe! Ehehehehe…!"

…What? What's wrong with her! The innocent smile of literal seconds ago shifts into a burst of manic laughter, that eventually bends into a soul-rending lament.

"Eheh…! Eh…! Ehhh… Ehhw… Ewwwww…‼"

Tears made of stylized X's roll down her faceplate past the visor and her painful grin, while her legs bend and give in to gravity, falling on her knees onto the steel carcasses below her. While holding her own sides with both arms, she tries to control her body, but the shuddering still won't quell. This is horrible!

"Ah-! What's happening, are you injured?" I call out, but she doesn't seem to listen to me! Looking at the holoscreen on my left, the boy who's her stamen is literally shaking with his teeth gritting and screeching like a chalkboard, in the process of fighting an immense force like pushing down on his muscles and spine.

"Damn, '76! Agh-!" A squish of blood splatters from his forehead, and a blood rivulet appears from his curly hair and rolls down his cheek. What? Why he's not releasing? Is he serious?

"He-HEY! Release the connection! She's going to crush you!"

"Nah... This is literally nothing…"

What-! Nothing? Are you kidding me, nothing? Connecting with a FranXX is like a game of balance played in two, except this is no game at all! If one can't provide the 'lift' necessary, all the weight of the connection is shoved onto the other, and your body can literally be crushed and squeezed like a sponge! Feedback can kill you outright, that weight is immense! Is he completely mad?

"Come on, 376… I'm here… Don't run away. What would they say if they saw you in this state? They wanted us to live on, to carry on their memory, remember? If we don't keep this on and keep their wishes dear to us, they're gonna live through our efforts…!" Code 371 pleads to her pistil. In a matter of seconds, his muscles relax and a sigh breaths out of his mouth. Solidago's trembling relents, and eventually, Code 376's cry is reduced to deaf hiccups and the sniffles of her running virtual nose. "There you go, girl, go slow and steady."

Oh… I see. They've been…

"I… I'm sorry…" Ichigo stutters. She's always been bad with those kinds of things.

"I'm sorry. We were careless." Somehow, I feel like apologizing to them. The boy on my right shows me his forlorn grin, somehow glad I'm showing at least some modicum of courtesy and sensibility. Yeah, we definitely need it here.

"Don't worry about it." His stare darts to the side, almost admitting a grave reality. He wipes the blood on his face, then points towards the plateau. "My squad is… resting under the white blankets of the camp."

I see…

"Sorry again for your loss."

"…" The boy nods. "It was meant to be… one day or the other. We knew that from the beginning."

Those eyes…

His expression tells more than his words do. Maybe it's the concealed pain of loss mixed with the disarming feeling of impotence painted all over his face, or maybe are his lips clasped shut trying to keep his emotions inside that strike me the most. But his resolute, bitter eyes left even a deeper groove in my soul. As if told by Death herself foreshadowed his destiny, inside those irises I can see clearly that he's very, very angry, but also dismayed at not finding anything to direct his rage. It's clear that all of that animosity is bottled up and compressed in his chest, but he forced himself to get rid of each droplet of hope that still haunted him and to accept the fate that would eventually befall him or his friends, long before this very moment.

We parasites are giving our own life for the cause of humanity, that's a thing supposed to be. Not that the battle I've encountered were not potentially deadly - quite the contrary - but I've never experienced having your own teammate killed on the line of duty just meters from you, lest your entire crew. We, our squad, never got rid of our hope, we hungrily wanted everything and now and we happily carried on in our duty without the shadow of a doubt or hesitation. At the light of that, I thought I couldn't fully comprehend what it feels like, deep down, but their display of pain filled me in a span of mere seconds. I wasn't there to witness them desperately fighting for their lives and wishing for the next dawn to break every single day, but his words resonated into me more than a hundred pictures would ever do.

His eyes drop to the floor as he continues.

"And now… well… it's… not good. We've been here for an hour, but there have been no transports in-sight yet… the only supplies we've got will last less and less, going down by the minute. Is anyone even still alive except us?"

"Regardless, we must do what's in order! Might be hard, but we've gotta rescue everyone!" Ichigo's acute voice resounds, sporting her bossy character.

"Yeah… but… by the time we will, if even possible, will there be any chance for us to get off here? The relief teams had never come so late at these times. Always the aerial drones to survey the operations, then the first responders reach the field, after which they call the survey ground teams with everything they've got. No matter the situation, people at the camp need way more than just some bandages… this is the sign that when Papa decided to leave us, the Adults ditched us with him. I think I don't need to say out loud how much we're in a pinch…"

Ichigo… that's not how you go about this…

"At this point, I don't think there's any hope for us to leave this place, so why even bother? This might have been our last battle as well, so this place will definitely be the graveyard of our dear comrades… if we want it, or not. Like this, I just cannot find any strength in me anymore to dig further. I just can't go on…" His droopy eyes show every inch of his weary soul. "Everyone abandoned us. We're going to die… alone…"

Die alone…?

Heh.

This is totally a possibility.

But.

But…

But…!

Why throwing everything away just like this? After all of those hardships, those battles… we sit down like that and do nothing? I just can't accept this-! There's so, so much I want to say right now! So, why am I staying silent? Is there any reason why I should? Then, why not say it out loud? I just need it! It's like words are literally begging to be let go from my chest‼ And who wouldn't, am I supposed to be different? Hell, no!

"Yeah…" My mouth opens and starts to talk on its own. "Seems like there's no future right now, huh?"

After a brief pause, I look him in the eyes. I'm doing this a hundred percent.

"I've asked myself many times what tomorrow would bring… but each time I couldn't give an answer. To be honest, I wasn't even sure if there was an answer. You know why? Because, since the day we were made, we were not allowed to talk about it, let even imagine it. The only one we were allowed to dream of was the future that Papa decided for us. You know, that one he was ranting about at the Mass before the briefing? Look around you, would you think this is what we deserved for our service? I don't think so. That was something he used make us drive our FranXX for his bidding, a lie.

"We were supposed to die in this battlefield like his favorite rag and tossed aside like such - and he sure as hell didn't make it out to hide it at the very end. Papa has forgone us. For good. He abandoned us, he just pulled a switch and fled away like he never wanted us. We might be alone now, but you know what? We survived! And finally, for the first time I'm not a pawn in anyone's hands! I'm someone that acts on his own! Right now, for the first time in my life, we just fought only for ourselves! And you know what…? Now that I can, I want to make that future I wasn't allowed into reality!

"I know, many of us couldn't escape that destiny, just as we all couldn't escape this horrible day we were thrown ourselves into. Evey each of us is in this same, shitty situation… our squad has an MIA member, too. He's my friend, someone that lived all his life next to mine, where he went, I went, and where I went, he went. I don't know in what dire straight this tragedy brought him right now, but somehow I want to believe he's still waiting for me… I want to have the hope he's waiting for my hand to reach him to hold onto! Because I well know that, like me, he wants a new future as I do! And I want him to be part of that!

"Maybe our end it's already written somewhere. Maybe the moment I will give my last breath is close… but maybe not! Our lives could end now, tomorrow, from ten years from now… but sure as heck, I'm alive right now! As I don't really know if there's someone still breathing below this mass graveyard, who's still hoping for my hand to reach them… but for sure I'm not gonna leave them to rot! Because… Because even if I don't personally know all of you, as I wasn't there when you've first walked into a FranXX and fought with your teammates to the bitter end, there's something we have in common. I know you're the same as me because we share an even bigger, grander desire! We're not alone! We're together, right here, and we need to look for each other!"

I can feel my mind has almost become one with Delphinium, frantically gesticulating as I speak!

"I won't back down anymore, not now! Not in front of our future! This is the hope that I was denied, and by extension, the future I'll tear out from the ashes of this battlefield! This is the hope I WANT to have! The hope that there's somewhere in this mess of an Earth that can still accept us and give us the world we wanted with all of ourselves, and…! Damn…!"

I'm so frickin' mad right now!

How many eons was it, since the flames of my own passion burned so high?! Was it when I was little? Yeah! It was such a long time since I let my emotions run wild! Good morning, my old and neglected friends! Pulling such a heavy slab off my chest, you made me remind that I'm still alive and kicking!

"G-Goro…!" Ichigo squeals, aghast. Maybe I'm bombing her connection too much, I'd rather calm down now… don't want her to freak out. Look up, look up… let the blood get down from your head…

"Hahh… sorry, Ichigo. But… I don't want to think this is the end. We have Hachi, our commander, and that's counting for something! He was our officer, and to be totally honest, I'd not bother asking for anyone's help if I'd know we were in his hands. He will do just fine, he never let us down once! He will scramble the rescuers for us, I'm sure of it! But in the meantime, let us save our companions, wherever they are and however the wind blows!"

I glance back to the eyes of the curly-haired stamen still on air on the screen in front of me. Now, the dead and soulless eyes of the boy in front of me lit of fire and brimstone! So, let me put a cherry on top of this.

"I perfectly know that despite it might seem all hope abandoned us, we're deep down still looking for the same ending for our story, the one where we'll live for our dreams and never regret anything! Right now, I feel it's closer than it's ever been before, and I say LET'S GO FOR IT!"

As soon as my words land, his face looks like he just broke off from a long and dreamless sleep. Still the same as before black-bagged eyes look at me, but a newfound hopeful light lingers in his irises. He nods, then eventually strikes a military salute at me.

"Yessir!"

Finally.

How much time had I had to wait to get this out of me? Probably a lot, as expected of me, but seeing such miracle happening out of some simple words drives my mind at peace. I'll never regret sharing those words to the ones that need them, as I'll never regret wishing for what I want deep down inside. I want to believe that such future exists! And such is the oath I'd take, one of the few I'd uphold with passion!

«RUMBLE!», «CRASH!»

Wait, what? What was that…? AH! Someone's waking up! All around us, black things are surfacing from the earth…! Wait, ohhh? S-Standard models? A group of them, maybe ten… or twenty? Whoa! They all woke up from nowhere, and they're looking straight at me! Uh, the radio is-

"Hey chief, that was some helluva discourse! I feel we can move mountains right there," a fired-up rowdy girl's voice, coming from one of them, resounds in my open comms. "Isn't that right, guys?"

"That was awesome!"

"YEAH!"

"Ye a king, goldie!"

The black mechs suddenly gather around to start cheering at me!

"Eh-Ehm… T-Thanks…?!" Oh no, I'm stuttering! W-were they listening all along? M-My mind is freezing! This is so embarrassing…!

"So, what about it! Let's rock and roll, guys!"

"Rally point, this very plateau! Carlina, Chicorius, let's dig them the hell up!"

"Received loud and clear, leader!"

"Let's make a mess of this place!"

"Let's DO IT!"

What the hell is this? Are they helping us? Just like that, out of nowhere!? I can't believe it! Were they all just moping around here, slumped and demoralized?

"Looks like you breathed some life to this place," the curly guy on the display smiles. "What's your code again?"

I smile back feeling my cheeks red as a pepper. "F-Forget my code. I have a name… Goro. And… sorry, I forgot yours."

"Oh? A full-fledged name? I see, I see. I've got just a simple code, 371."

"And I'm 376!" says his pistil. "Very happy to meet you again!"

The black mech called Solidago jumps at Delphinium and embraces us!

"WHOA!" Ichigo fights the clench at first, then exchanges the courtesy. "Y-Yeah… us too."

Solidago happily releases the grip, jumps away from us, then glances back with a beaming smile. "We'll be working hard now, so don't fret! See ya later!" She waves, then joins the crowd of mechs slowly toppling Klaxxosaurs left and right trying to uncover our comrades buried alive. About me, I feel like I turned into a salt statue.

"We'll be joining, right Goro? After all of that grand speech, you can't let down all those big words!" Ichigo radiantly says to me through Delphinium.

"Ehh…" She's right, gotta take responsibility of what comes out from my own mouth. "Yup… let's get us working! They're waiting for us." Not that I would back down from all of this, anyways.

And like that, the rescue operation now truly has begun, like our new life as free Parasites.

...

* * *

 **Outstretched Hand - END**

* * *

...

FORUM LINK: fanfiction (dot!) net/topic/216244/179202994/1/REWRITE-Chapter-4-Outstretched-hand


	5. Chapter 5 :: Crime and punishment

...

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 **Crime and punishment**

* * *

...

(CHAPTER PENDING REWRITE)

The hours pass, and the rescue of the survivors continues unimpeded, in the reddish light of the beginning of the sunset.

Of the more than three hundred FranXX who composed the defense force and their crew, only a third remained standing and operating from the battle.

Normally, if a crew fell into combat, it was rescued by adults with drones or recovery vehicles that accessed directly from the cockpit, which was carefully extracted.

But now, the same fighters were forced to raise the bodies of enemies under which their comrades were trapped and then carefully force the cockpit open. Inside, the two Parasites were usually scared to death, believing who was forcing the door were VIRM.

Delphinium and Argentea were raising the head of a huge blue and black mechanical caterpillar, made of geometric patterns, with the body cut in two and with blades instead of the feet, to better reach a fallen unit stuck under it.

Forced the opening, inside are found two scared and slightly injured Parasites. Argentea approaches her and opens her cabin, so that the other occupants can jump in and be transported.

"Thanks!" Exclaims the rescued Pistil with a broken voice.

"Hey, don't squeeze so tightly!" Zorome exclaims with pleasant surprise.

" ZOROME. DON'T. YOU. DARE." Miku's voice thunders in an ultimatum.

" Eeeh... you heard the boss, so please sit down there..." An intimidated Zorome tries to save the situation, accommodating the zealous rescued Pistil.

"We are taking them to base camp." Miku turns to Goro and Ichigo.

"Ok, we keep looking. If they need anything, contact us by radio." Ichigo informs Miku.

The pink and white mech quickly leaves, levitating on a few meters off the ground.

Left alone, they resume the search for other survivors, trying to recognize in the wreckage about the signs of a friendly fighter on the ground. It is at that moment that they see something white. An arm of a FranXX. Delphinium stops and picks it up, examining it carefully.

"A piece of a M-9 of the Nines..." Goro recognizes the style of the armor.

"..." Ichigo remains silent, then sighs. "Even if they deserve to stay down there, they have fought with us. Beyond the evil they have done, we will rescue them."

"..." Goro silently accepts Ichigo's decision. In his head appears a 'You're too good.'

At that point, Delphinium puts the arm on the ground and looks around to see some signs of what remains of its former owner. Moving cautiously close to a mass of deactivated VIRM soldiers, an orange spearhead can be spotted not too far away.

The robot climbs on the purple bodies of the VIRMs and finds what remains of the special forces team and covert police, the Nines, and their special Model-9 FranXX. White with red contours, a female figure with a large protective helmet with a tactical mask, thick armoured leggings, tapered arms harnessed with large shoulder straps, very prominent vambraces and long magma thrusters attached to the sides as wings.

But they were seated like marionettes to which the threads were cut after the last scene of their script, their armor hollowed, cut and in some places, holed with the internal mechanics in sight.

"They fought until exhaustion..." Ichigo checks. "...I'm afraid of getting close." She says while remembering the crazed state they were not so long ago.

"At least let's make sure if they are still conscious..." He proposes Goro.

Delphinium looks at the first M-9 sitting on her left, with a dented helmet and a chasm on his chest. Approaching on guard, as if expecting the mech to jump to her throat on the first occasion, touches the mask on the cockpit door.

"...How do you open it?" Asks Ichigo pondering. "Uh?" Ichigo jerks at the noise of air coming out of a compressor from the head of the mech - the mask opens at the edges, inclining towards Delphinium and revealing the command seat.

The interior was pitch black.

Delphinium closes her face to the opening, seeing two silhouettes standing out: one was a long-haired figure sitting on her side on the Stamen's seat, the other smaller one was sitting nearby, crumpled, with its arms around the legs and the forehead on its knees. Both immobile and silent.

Delphinium observes in silence at first. Then Ichigo calls with insecurity. "...9-Alpha? "

No reply.

"9-Alpha." Call Goro resolutely. "We came to help you."

Still no reply.

"Let's leave them last. They make us waste only time." Ichigo observes with contempt.

Delphinium doesn't have time to turn away that 9-Alpha, the figure sitting on the floor, begins to speak in a torn voice.

"015..."

Ichigo, alias code 015, exclaims triumphantly: "There you are! Thought you were dead. "

" It makes no difference." 9-Alpha replies.

" Ah... why am I wasting time helping you?" Ichigo replies poisonous.

"I do not know. We've done to your squad things for which I, in your shoes, would have looked the other way in this situation." He says 9-Alpha without emotion.

Ichigo lets out a moan of disbelief. "Do not try to make me pity you. It doesn't work with me, it only makes me angry."

9-Alpha breathes in. "I'm not in the position to ask you anything, but I still would like to ask you... a favor."

"Go die somewhere." Ichigo utters with hatred and Delphinium pulls back with a hard face.

Delphinium, however, stops when, out of the corner of his eye, he sees the pilot stand up and approach the exit of his FranXX, meeting the sunlight. He wore a jumpsuit that looked like a cross between a Pistil and a Stamen one, with a small collar and a spinal exoskeleton, in bright red and white details. Slim but athletic, slightly taller than Ichigo, and with unkempt short blond hair, he doesn't sport a smiling look on the edge of contempt, as he used to keep, but a hard, whitened expression, and with his bagged blood-shot eyes.

"…Please. It's important." Retorts 9-Alpha decided, looking at Delphinium in the eyes, with a light note of supplication and then tilting his head forward.

Delphinium turns to look at him. Ichigo gives in from the strange change of attitude. "What do you want."

Alpha takes a forced sigh. "Could you bring Delta and d Epsilon... to the...base?" His tone fluctuates in the last words.

Ichigo sighs. "What, do you think I'm here only to help you?"

Alpha does not answer.

"A FranXX of the Nines is missing." Goro points out.

Delphinium looks around and counts only three M-9s. "Where is Delta's FranXX?" Asks Ichigo.

Alpha without saying anything indicates the stack of VIRM in front of them, still looking down.

Delphinium glances Alpha and then at the stack, trying to process the situation. Then she approaches the pyre of enemies and moves two of them by weight, revealing a carcass of a completely tortured M-9, with no arms, a leg and... without the head.

"Oh, no." Ichigo looks around to find the most important part. When the look falls on the VIRM she had just moved... it had something white in her mouth.

"Oh!" Ichigo trembles with terror, Delphinium brings his hands to his mouth.

"They are... there." Goro notes with dismay.

The head of the M-9, eaten and crushed, reduced to half of what it was, including the helmet, is lodged in the mouth of the disabled VIRM. An unformulated mass of twisted metal, the crumpled mask marked by broken metal wrinkles is no longer associable to a face. The helmet has been compressed inwards and the neckline is broken.

From which a red rivulet comes out...

Alpha speaks on: "I have to honor their service. Please... bring... them... to... the... bas... e…" His expression writhes atrociously while his breath takes over his own words.

The shoulders of Alpha tremble violently, as he quickly dashes inside the cabin. Delphinium pursues him, worried. Looking inside, he's kneeling at the far side of the command station with its back arched forward, his head almost touching the ground and his hands covering his head, wincing uncontrollably.

Ichigo doesn't believe what is seeing.

"DON'T LOOK! DON'T..." Alpha screams. A sharp, aching voice. The voice of a person wounded to death. Alpha hides his face with his arms, wincing violently.

The seated figure of the Stamen rises and approaches Alpha. Long, ashen white hair, with narrow and inexpressive eyes and a metal jaw mask, in a bright red stamen suit without a breastplate, she stops in front of Alpha and crouches down with him, placing her hand on his arm.

Delphinium looks away and freezes in place, with a strong feeling of inadequacy.

"I will do it." Goro confidently takes on the duty.

Goro, with a nonresponsive Ichigo, takes the initiative of movement, heading for the battered carcass. As he approaches the head of the VIRM, places the hands on the cracks of its mouth and pulls with all the strength of his FranXX. The jaw breaks with a dry sound, stretching out unnaturally and revealing the white head of the fallen M-9, which is carefully extracted.

Delphinium brings the head in her arms, clutching it in her bosom, with a distraught expression.

The mischievous little girl with green hair and the calm tall purple-haired boy who had lived with them for a few days, in a distant and now unreachable place, were there with them.

...

* * *

...

A warm wind rises in the air, whirlwinds of sand storming the hills that surround the solitary plain several kilometers east of the battlefield. That basin hosts what remains of a lake, in which center stands a white structure with red vertical veins: a ring that encloses three spheres towered by a pointy hexagonal building, bent inward, all surrounded by two wings-shaped shields. A bird that takes care of the eggs in his nest, the main base of FranXX teams, Bird's Nest.

A long white bridge extends from the main entrance to the lake's bank, under which you can glimpse some black FranXX levitating on the surface of the water, carrying orange spheres and white boxes. A black FranXX, who's not busy, is laying the lonely shore sitting on her side. Different from the others, she has a tall hat-shaped helmet with wide green bordered ear protectors and wears an armor suit in the form of a long dress, with a detachment on the back, leaving it uncovered. Two armor strips shaped like braids, that come down from her temples, enclose a white face which access door is open.

Inside, a couple of children were resting, sitting on the Pistil seat opposite each other, giving each other their backs. He is wearing a Stamen suit, thin built, medium height, short gray-colored hair, slanting dark green eyes, a thin, handsome face and a light complexion. She in a white pistil dress with light green inserts, long blond hair with a fringe and gathered in a braid, a round, delicate face with blue, languid eyes. Both are eating in silence, he an energy bar and she a thermos with tea. The door overlooked the lake, painted in shimmering red from the sunset.

Once the meal is finished, the boy turns to the scene and while sitting upright leans his elbow on the knee, supporting his head and observing the view. The girl turns slightly to stare at him, but he notices immediately, so she dashes her eyes towards the unlit panoramic screens, embarrassed.

"Is everything ok?" Asks the boy.

"Mh." The girl answers in an affirmative tone.

"Aren't you nauseous?"

"No…"

"I feel very tired, we've been going back and forth for hours. I'm surprised you're still fine, Kok-UGH! "The boy holds his hand to his temple, as if someone had punched him.

"...Why do you still try? Please don't do it..." She looks at him and requests with guilt.

"...556." The boy ends up calling her with her code.

"It's that... when I'm connected to Genista, I don't feel my real body..." She explains.

"…Neat."

The shadow of Bird's Nest stretches, while the two enjoy the scene in a scent of water mixed with sand.

"You know, piloting with you gives me the impression that I've already done it." The boy breaks the silence.

"Yeah, me too. What our companions said about us was true..." The girl says with apprehension. "I do not understand anything, if I try to remember my head hurts... Is it because those were bad memories?"

"I don't think so. Hearing them, we were happy... "

"In fact, connecting with you is not difficult at all, 326..." She observes.

The two look one another with difficulty. She continues.

"When we came back from maintenance, Futoshi went mad when I told him I was his partner. He said that I had always been with you and that he refused to drive with me. "

"I was told that at some point we switched partners, I was with Ikuno but since we did not get along..."

Silence falls, both stares colliding with the ground, confused.

"I do not remember anything of this. It is as if an impostor had lived... my life in... my stead." She admits with difficulty. "I don't know where that person ends and where I start ..."

"I too feel the same..." The boy replies. "I... I do not remember anymore. I do not know what to say... I can't... live as if I remembered, just because others impose this on me. I would not be honest to myself."

"...!" The girl looks at him in the eyes instinctively, scared. The boy is taken aback.

"Ah, no, I meant..." The boy is visibly shaken by the girl's expression. "If you want... we can... start… all over again...?"

The girl recovers. "Yes... Yes." But she remains thoughtful, amazed at her instinctive reaction.

Both remain speechless.

The moment is interrupted by the acute sound of Genista's intercom which cries out a broadcast communication, making them wince.

"Here unit Delphinium to all transport units: at our location there are three FranXX in urgent need of fuel. Can someone supply us with tanks? Over."

The two look at each other and exclaim in unison: "Goro!"

They get up and head to the console and the boy initializes a two-point communication with Delphinium sitting in the seat of the Stamen, with the girl standing next to him in front of the holoscreen.

With the communication accepted, a tall boy in a stamen suit, with an oval face, high cheekbones, thick eyebrows and medium-blond hair, slightly long but shaved off his temple and with a pair of purple-rimmed sports glasses appears on screen. Surprised, he smiles and raises his hand in greeting. "Hey there!"

"Delphinium, here's Genista! We had no news about you, are you okay? "Asks the boy.

"Yes, thank you Mitsuru, Kokoro. Argentea had warned me that you were well, then we joined the relief forces without thinking."

"How are the searches going?"

"It's a mess, we have the last positions of the missing units, but even if we find them ... often they are not..." Goro can't finish the sentence, which hangs in the air. He shakes his head, then resumes. "Then we found the Nines... they are intact, but they need fuel..."

"Goro, why do you have to ask _to them_?" Asks Ichigo, out of the picture.

Goro looks to his left and, taken aback, puts his hand to his mouth to his gaffe.

"... They answered first." Goro excuses himself worriedly.

"Ichigo, what do you mean...?" Asks Mitsuru.

Ichigo enters the screen's picture.

"They were the ones who denounced you to Papa, who deleted your memories." He responds with energy.

"..." Both Mitsuru and Kokoro look at each other, insecure about how to approach the subject.

"Excuse me..." Goro prostrates himself, for his lack of tact.

"You did not do anything wrong, Goro..." Mitsuru tells him. "I remember them, they spent a night in Mistilteinn, right?"

"Yes, and later, during your marriage, they had you two arrested by the Guards. We met again a few weeks later at Bird's Nest. You haven't been the same since that day." Goro explains displeased.

"…I see. We were doing something... Banned by Papa? " Inquires Kokoro.

Goro looks at her, amazed. "But…! Banned or not...!"

"If so... I will not hold prejudices. They were doing their duty."

"KOKORO!" Ichigo thunders with disbelief from the screen; Kokoro gets smaller.

"Ichigo, calm down please..." Mitsuru urges her. "It's that... I don't know how to tell you..." A pause to take the breath, then Mitsuru continues. "Kokoro and I don't remember anything about our relationship. We don't remember. Nothing at all! How can I hold a grudge for something I don't remember losing?"

"I can't get angry, even though you say they mistreated us." Kokoro further explains. "Besides what Mitsuru said, if I really went against the wishes of Papa, then _that_ was my punishment." As she said it, her hands were shaking. "The me of that time knew the risks, or not?"

"BUT...!" Ichigo presses again. Mitsuru, however, doesn't want any of that.

"Ichigo, stop yelling at Kokor-UHHH...!" Mitsuru screams in turn. The pain makes him recoil and falter, but to fight it, he beats his fist on the arm rest of the pilot's seat. "D-Do not tell us how we should behave...! We know what to do already on our own!"

Goro drops his eyes and bends his head forward gripping his forehead. Ichigo takes a half step backwards and widens her eyes. When girl's opens her mouth, he cuts her.

"Ichigo, don't."

"Goro!" She replies, looking at him.

"Sometimes you need to know when to let go." He looks her in the eye. "He's right, we can't force them to think as we think, or to feel what we feel, regardless how right we think we are about it."

Ichigo opens his mouth in amazement, looking at him with resentment. Finally, she turns and exits the screen.

"Sorry again." Goro bends his head forward to the two.

"Goro, don't sweat it... We wanted to say that we can bring over the tanks since we just took a break. No problem at all." Explains Mitsuru. "Then we'll want to talk to them if possible, to clarify the situation. "

Goro' expression worsens. "...They aren't in a position to speak right now."

"Are they well...?" Asks Kokoro.

"... Yes, but not of mind."

" Ahh... I hope they are not dangerous..."

"Only if you easily get depressed." Goro lets out a sad smile. "Where are you?"

"We're next to Bird's Nest lake." says Mitsuru.

"Ah well. We have to go back to the base in a while, so we'll see each other on the way."

"Ok. Three tanks...?"

"Yes."

"Fine, see you later, then. Out." Mitsuru turns off communication with Goro.

In doing so, he breathes a sigh of relief and looks at Kokoro.

"It was hard, but it was worth it..."

Kokoro in turn sighs, looking at him. "Thank you, Mitsuru, I would never have the courage to say it without your help." She says gratefully.

Mitsuru looks at her and, slightly red from embarrassment, diverts his gaze.

"N-nothing. I think that if we did not make the situation clear, we risked becoming... victims."

Kokoro glances him softly, in silence. Then she wonders, dreamy.

"I think I know why we got along..."

Red faced as much as he, she takes her eyes off the boy and heads, hands joined, towards her post.

...

* * *

...

Bird's Nest is divided into three different sections: the inner ring that includes the hangar, the repair center and the ground vehicle garage, the three central spheres where the dormitories of Parasites are located that consist in open rooms, arranged in tiers, facing a single open-space, and the last section of the building is the arched pointed tower, which contains the main command station, staff quarters and base infrastructure.

The hangar is furnished with enormous containment cages for the FranXX stationed at the base, which cover the inner wall along its entire circumference. From the catwalks built at the level of their heads, the crews can enter their units and connect, then move out of the cage after the retentions have been removed.

In the center, several large mechanical arms hang from the ceiling connected to magnetic rails. Placed neatly in columns next to the wall opposite to the metal cages, are lying the canisters used to supply the Magma Fuel for the FranXX, enclosed in cube-shaped structures made of cylindrical bars so that they could be stacked on top of each other. The tower of containers dematerialized very quickly with the advancing of time, being continually brought to the search field: the robots were notoriously not very efficient in term of fuel; on average a FranXX was refueled with a new tank about every hour even if only in standby.

Genista was in the garage's corridor, full of empty metal structures left on the floor, looking up at one of the last stack of Magma canisters still available with a mildly stressed expression, cutely despairing because she was not tall enough to reach the top by going on her toes.

" Uuuh..." Kokoro complains. Genista comes down from the tips and touches his hat, squinting in disappointment. "The cans are too high..."

"...Yeah, I think we have to use the mechanical arms." He proposes Mitsuru.

"The arm controls are difficult to use..." Sighs Kokoro with disappointment. "Stay here, you!" Genista puts his hand on the column.

STCK! A dull sound comes from the foot of the pile.

"Huh?" Genista, startled by the sound, looks down.

A steel cylinder of a cage broke in two.

" Whoops ...?" She says embarrassed.

The stack tilts to the side.

The expression of Genista turns from guilt to horror.

"OH NONONONONONO-!" In a fit of fear, she throws herself on the column to hold it still, causing it to hit the wall with a loud -KLANG-.

"Kokoro, d-d-d-do not panic!" Mitsuru says, panicking in turn.

"AAAAH! DO NOT FALL DOWN! PLEEEEEEASE! "Genista clings to the column, swinging It dangerously to the sides.

"I can't hold it-" Mitsuru pushes on the cloche to stabilize the Pisa tower of cans, when a boy's baritone voice, cheerful and decisive, resounds from the intercom.

"Genista, I'll help you!"

Suddenly, a white mech descends from above like a predator, lands next to her and with another leap, sails over the head of Genista, grabs the last five cubes of the pile and places them gracefully to the side on landing. Then she lifts the remaining container cubes from her hands.

"Take away the broken one!" The boy orders Genista.

"YES!" Genista grabs the broken cube and removes it from its position, so the white mech repositions the column.

" Ahhhh! Thank you, Chlorophytum! "With a sigh of relief, the black mech recollects herself, and bows with gratitude while holding her hat upright.

In a ballerina pose, hands joined behind, Chlorophytum is white with purple details: a white compact helmet with an orange opal and an armored plume on the back, a purple visor with a single blue-eyed left eye, wings-shaped protectors on the cheeks and armor strips from the attachment of the helmet that falls recurved like wavy hair. From the female body with a short purple tie there are two arms with small shoulder guards and forearm protectors on which are integrated long wing-shaped thrusters with purple terminals. With her hips surrounded by levitating batteries like a dancer's costume, the figure is completed by lending legs ending in orange pins, made for combat.

"No problem, Kokoro!" Answers the Stamen of the mech with joy.

"Hello, Futoshi ..." Mitsuru greets the boy.

On the right of Mitsuru, a holoscreen appears, from which the Stamen of Chlorophytum greets Mitsuru: a boy with a big build, short brown middle parted hair with and medium length sideburns, an oval face, gentle eyes crowned by thick and short eyebrows, a small crushed nose and a pronounced chin. He wore the standard suit with a chest plate as his companion, with a purple sign on its shoulder strap.

"Hi Mitsuru! I hope you're taking care of Kokoro! "He answers.

"Hi, Kokoro ..." The latter's pistil greets his colleague, with a mature voice.

"I see you're fine, Ikuno!" Kokoro turns to the latter, while Genista shows off a big smile.

"Yes... I was just tired." She answers with her ever-expressionless FranXX.

"Ikuno!" says her Stamen, Futoshi, with a reproaching tone.

"Futoshi, please..."

"..." Futoshi drops the rebuke.

Genista then indicates the tanks and Kokoro begins to explain the situation.

"Eh, we were going to bring in the field of tanks, can you help us?" Kokoro asks the two.

"Of course. How many?"

"Three, make four."

"... Don't tell me that our forces are still digging the wounded at Gran Crevasse...?" Futoshi.

"Yes." Mitsuru answers. "…There's something wrong."

Futoshi ponders. "The base is also strangely calm, and we're not hearing anything from Hachi. Did the adults disappear...?"

Silence falls on the conversation while the two FranXX exchange blank stares.

"There must be an explanation for all this. Not seeing one now, though." Ikuno casts aside the topic, then takes two canisters out of the frames and carries them underarm. Genista copies her with two other tanks, filled in thought. Then the two head towards the exit of the garage for the FranXX.

Once through the door, they are greeted by the reddish sun that paints the ripples of the lake's water, stirred by the wind. A white platform that sinks into the lake welcomes them: Genista and Chlorophytum turn on their rocket engines in levitation mode, reach the shore of the lake and head towards the battlefield.

...

* * *

...

From the shore of the lake to the salt desert, from the hills that embrace the valley to the rock ridges lashed by the wind, Genista and Chlorophytum proceed on their journey levitating about ten meters from the ground at high speed, so as not to be hindered from the sand or easily collapsable soil that most of the zone is made of.

Around them a barren landscape, empty and depressing: no tree or plants more than a meter tall, only the mirages of the warm air on the horizon and the reflections of the sun on the rock formations on which the two mechs rise and fall in the post. On the horizon to the west, the mountain on which Gran Crevasse was built, whose dome stood out in the sunset.

The two, passed the umpteenth mountain arch, descend into a valley and take speed, arriving less than ten minutes at the base of the main mountain. Around it, one could still see the carcasses of the destroyed plantations reflecting the sunlight, wrecks of the fighting consumed in the area during the conquest of the complex. A cloud of dust was moving toward them, coming from the mountain.

"I see a FranXX approaching..." Ikuno warns.

"It's Delphinium." Kokoro answers. "She's carrying something."

The two of them stop, waiting for her to approach. The mech notices the two and decreases the speed to greet her teammates.

"Hello, people ..." Goro greets them, stopping in front of them.

"Hi, Go ..." Start Ikuno, then stop looking at the thing in his hand and shut up immediately.

"Oh no!" Genista almost dropped the cans, realizing with eyes wide open that what he carried was the head of an M-9.

Delphinium lifts that to her chest, with a destroyed expression, while Chlorophytum hangs in place.

"Kokoro... Mitsuru... Sorry about earlier..." says Ichigo. "I-I was not in myself..." Delphinium's shoulders begin to shake. "I... too many... there were too many ..."

Some X's ripple down from Delphinium's eyes.

Genista looks at her, puts down the cans, approaches and caresses her shoulder, while he puts her other hand on her cheek...

"It's ok, don't worry... It was nothing." Delphinium leans on Kokoro's hand as she sobs. The seconds pass slowly, while Ichigo is heartened by Kokoro.

"Thank you, Kokoro." Goro says in a watery tone. "We have done nothing but dig for hours... most of all we have found were like them..." Hinting at the head he held. "I-I can't take it anymore."

"You were incredible..." Genista looks on the ground, bringing her hands together to her chest. "I... I couldn't have done what you guys did."

"If it had not been for Goro, I would not have been able to do anything..." Ichigo remarks with a broken voice.

Goro sighs. "We need a break..."

Chlorophytum remains static on the spot, when Futoshi whispers to his Pistil: "Come on Ikuno, go on..."

"Ehmmm..." Ikuno gets upset with embarrassment. Her FranXX, keeping the head down, puts the tanks on the ground and approaches Delphinium, placing her hand on her other shoulder and tightening slightly.

"Y-Y-You were... Fantastic. T-Thanks, Ichigo, Goro... W-We're gonna pick up… things from now on." The girl says awkwardly, embarrassed in a rare moment of intimacy, while the eye of Chlorophytum gets thinner.

Delphinium looks at her in surprise, then smiles as if she has seen the most beautiful of scenes.

"Thank you, Ikuno!" Ichigo takes her friend's hand.

The three mechs separate, when a dark hiss on the horizon fills the air.

"...Does everyone hear something?" Futoshi questions his comrades.

The three mechs begin to look around to spot the origin of the noise. From weak just above the rustle of the wind, it intensifies into a deafening vibration.

Suddenly, a VTOL transport plane flies the sky above them, a fixed wing a with a huge cubic cargo bay that protrudes on its belly.

"Evacuation!" Shouts Ichigo.

"AAAAAAAAAH!" Everyone screams with joy, jumping like crazy from happiness. All the accumulated fatigue disappears immediately at the sight of MedEvac.

"Only one, though...?" Ikuno notices.

"Let's get to them!" Without hesitation, Futoshi makes to chase the plane.

"We already have something to do. We're going to get to them later." Ikuno remembers his partner.

"Quick, then!" Chlorophytum takes its tanks under the arm with newfound energy.

"We get to the base and come back here in a second." Goro warns his companions.

"OK then, see you later!" Mitsuru salutes them. Delphinium turns on the propulsors and disappears in a cloud of sand, the same in which she arrived, while Genista and Chlorophytum resume their journey with their tanks.

Approaching the area of operations, they are greeted by the Klaxxo orbital weapons destroyed by the battle, abandoned like huge old columns in the middle of ancient ruins. Arrived at the dense part of carcasses, the two FranXX activate their propulsors and fly over it, in the direction of their objective. In grazing flight, keep an eye on the transport, now near the hospital field.

In less than no time, Genista sees the tips of the lances of the M-9, long and tapered, so takes a circular path to decrease the speed and lands in front of them, still seated in their spots. Genista looks at them, sighs and then announces: "Hello, I'm here to supply you with Magma. Can you show me where's your refuelling port? "

Behind her, Chlorophytum recognizes them and hangs on the spot. Slowly, she places the tanks on the floor.

"Why... them? Why? WHY?" Futoshi loses it. His FranXX stiffens and clenches his fists involuntarily, arching his back.

"Futoshi... FUTOSHI, NO!" Chlorophytum's hand retracts and changes into a gun barrel. However, at the same time, his face flickers off.

Ikuno, inside the command station, rejects the connection by taking control of her real body. As soon as the collar of the pistil comes together, Ikuno tears the commands from the hands of a foolish Futoshi, pulling her body to the side and descending from her platform.

White hair with purple tips long up to the shoulders, gathered at the back with a violet butterfly-shaped clasp, wide green eyes framed by long eyelashes and thin eyebrows, freckled cheeks, a straight nose and a small thin mouth. All contracted in disbelief, thinking of what his partner was going to do.

She looks him in the eyes and yells: "ARE YOU OUT OF MIND?"

"NOT EVEN A LITTLE!" Futoshi gets up from his seat with a face full of hatred, clenching his fists. "They tried to kill us at the wedding, don't you remember, Ikuno?"

"They called us disgusting, sent on us a squadron of Guards with real weapons, then they took Kokoro and Mitsuru to reindoctrinate them, destroying their memories! THEY-ARE-DISGUSTING!" Futoshi screams like never done before, vigorously shaking his finger in the direction of the mechs in violent accusation.

Ikuno recedes and looks at him in disbelief: his face deformed by rage, grinding teeth and tense muscles, making it twice its already large volume, he turned from the usually kind and smiling Futoshi into a beast full of hatred.

' _What was he keeping to himself all this time?'_ At the sight of the head of the FranXX that Delphinium was carrying, she did not feel a strain in Futoshi's connection... the opposite actually.

She puts her hand to her mouth in shock and backs to the LCD screens.

"I DO NOT TRUST THEM! And if that shitty man is gone, did anyone ever think about what these crazy people could do?"

"Don't talk ill of Papa." Alpha appears on the screen.

Futoshi looks at him and his outburst immediately ceases at the visage the pale face, ill-coordinated with his blond hair and eyes of blood-red, expressionless. He had left the intercom open, and since Genista had connected with the Nines, everyone heard everything.

"You…" Futoshi's eyes light up.

"Futoshi" Kokoro calls from an holoscreen behind him.

"Do not interfere, Kokoro." He says dryly.

"But…"

"This is between me and them."

Alpha recognizes the owner of the voice. "Kokoro...?" So he looks at the screen behind her and understands that the girl behind was _her_.

"It's your fault. YOUR FAULT!" Futoshi urges him.

"I do not hate you. But the Word of Papa is absolute."

"Nobody cares about the word of that person here anymore."

"I told you... hah... not to talk bad about him... " Alpha gasps, unable to take a breath.

"Why do you insist on protecting him? He abandoned us all. And he started with us of the Plantation 13."

"No…!"

"Where are the adults? Where is his voice that you love so much?"

"I... " Alpha breaks down and looks at the ground.

"Repeat that we are disgusting, if you have the courage!" Futoshi screams aggressively.

"You're disgusting."

With surprise, another holoscreen appears next to that of Alpha. A boy dressed in the same suit Alpha, with an unnaturally white complexion like him, but without bloodshot eyes, with magenta medium-length hair gathered behind the head in a ponytail, appears on the screen. And looks at Futoshi with extreme contempt.

"Do you know why?"

"And who would you be?" He replies with equal contempt.

"Because if I had an ounce of respect FOR-MY-SELF, I would not attack the person I hate when he falls to the ground, unable to defend himself." Says the boy slowly, as if giving a hard lesson, ignoring his question.

Futoshi looks at him open-mouthed, as if he had punched him in the stomach.

"This is called justice." Responds Futoshi, between guilt and hatred.

"Ahaha, congratulations! A paragon of justice!" He claps his hands in applause, sarcastically. "No... it's not justice. It's revenge." The redhead replies. "Do you feel better now? Revenge is made only for that."

"You took something from us that we can't get back." Futoshi retorts, more and more in difficulty.

"Nothing in this world is eternal, not even the people around you." He explains. "We believed in his Word. Not in his orders, but in where he wanted to bring humanity: a place where there is no fear of losing anything ... no fear, no pain or worry."

"..." Futoshi remains to listen.

"We believed in Him, to the bitter end... You can't understand anything of that." He accuses Futoshi.

"Not upon our skin."

"It was also about you."

"...We are still here." Futoshi reproaches him.

"..." The redhead looks at him livid. "We are too."

"..." Futoshi weighs him up with a stare. "Aren't you furious?"

"I would break all the screens of my FranXX." The boy says seriously. "But at least I can control my anger. Because even if I did, nothing would change..." He takes a long breath. "The fact that we were abandoned."

The look of Futoshi falls to the ground for a few seconds. Then he nods, noticing that something in Alpha's screen has changed.

A figure entered the image: a girl with long gray hair, lightly bleached skin, thin eyes and a steel mandibole, looks at Futoshi through the screen, shoulder to shoulder with Alpha.

He looks at her curiously. She brings her hands to her ears, places both her index fingers behind each one and with a -Klak- detaches the mandible from her face, revealing a small upturned nose and a thin mouth, with a protruding canine. An ethereal presence pervaded her, thanks to her drooping brown eyes.

Alpha and the redhead look their partner with surprise. "Zeta!" They say in unison, in surprise.

She separates her lips. "Ehhhm..." The girl says in a high and immature, distressed voice. "Please, stop... don't take it out on my brothers... I too... have the blame... I... I just wanted to s... stay with them... forever..." The faint voice of the girl slipping through the intercom.

"Sorry..." She lowers her head.

Ikuno, Kokoro and Mitsuru look at her like statues of salt.

Futoshi, on the other hand, covers his mouth in an interminable moment. Then, he abandons himself on the seat, resting the elbow on the leg. Then let the head slip on the hand, gripping his scalp.

 _'We were all mocked. Everyone. I'm an idiot.'_

...

* * *

...

The arrival of the recovery shuttle drastically lifted the spirits of the forces left on the ground, now engaged to enlarge the area of the improvised landing beside the wounded camp. Argentea along with the mass-produced FranXX was moving the carcasses around the perimeter to allow the shuttle to land safely, when his face was painted with curiosity at Hachi's announcement from the intercom.

"Do it quickly, we have half an hour maximum." Hachi announces to all his strength. "The environmental conditions will not last long."

"What does he mean?" Miku asks.

"Who knows ... Hop!" Zorome replies, busy throwing a carcass of a VIRM on a pile not far away, imitated by his companions.

When the area is sufficiently wide, the transport drops slowly in landing, opening the landing sleds and the gigantic door of the cargo hold.

"To all the occupants of the camp, quickly evacuate wounded and fallen into the cargo. The rest of the FranXX forces preside over the area, so not even a fly can pass through. Time is running out!" Hachi thunders from external speakers.

Those in charge of the camp look at each other strangely, then hurry up to lift their mates out of the beds and carry them by arms to the medical ship. Shortly thereafter, a sound of tires rubbing the metal from inside the cargo accompanies a canopy-free construction vehicle up to the outside of the cargo hold on the sand, led by Hachi, as he arrives near the wounded.

"Climb everyone! Come on, let's go, move it!" Hachi screams in the heat of the moment: everyone understood that they could not afford to be slow.

Over and over the vehicle bounces between the cargo and the field carrying the bodies of fallen comrades, wrapped in white sheets, and their companions among the pilots on the ground running frantically carrying the remaining wounds in the belly of the aircraft. The remaining FranXX arranged in a circle, armed with Magma spears, to prevent anything to approach the sensitive area.

When the whole field was evacuated, Hachi breathed a huge sigh of relief, between the gasping of the pilots brought to their knees by the hurry of the evacuation. He gets out of the carriage and climbs into the cockpit by a ladder and abandons himself on the pilot's seat, leaning back with his eyes closed. After a second of calm, he reaches for the intercom and the cargo speakers.

"Great job, everyone, we did it. Now I'm about to close the tailgate, move away from the yellow-black stripes." He makes sure that everyone is ready, then he presses the closing button. "Now sit on the ground, hold on to the retentions on the walls and do not move from your spots, even if the cargo is G-balanced, let's not run out of luck."

Then he types the landing coordinates on the console and the autopilot takes control of the aircraft.

"To the remaining FranXX in the area of operations, return to base for debriefing."

The VTOL takes off in vertical flight and then transitions to horizontal, towards the base. At the now empty landing, the towering sentinels take a sigh of relief.

"YES! WE DID IT! GREAT, GUYS!" Zorome makes on the spot a huge jump, throwing a punch in the air. Everyone around smiles at the pink mech.

"Zorome... you know that not everyone has been saved...?" Miku says worriedly. "And... what were those 'ambient conditions' that Hachi was so worried about?"

"Maybe the dark...? We should wait until tomorrow to continue... I guess... All crews have medical kits and integrated food for emergencies..." Speculates Zorome. "For now, we should reach the main base, then we're gonna get everything explained."

"Mh..." She was not convinced at all. "Are we going to get Delphinium?" She asks, and he nods.

Zorome then opens the contact list of the satellite locator.

"Sure." Zorome leads the mech to the position of their ally.

After a slalom between some carcass, Argentea takes a different path. "This is not the right way!" Miku scolds him. "Where are you going?"

"Oh…? Ah! Sorry, I didn't notice, but Delphinium is already at the base... I was going in the wrong direction! Ehehe…" Zorome smiles embarrassed, then...

"Wait... what?" The smile frowns in the moment that something orange nearby grabs his attention: it was like an orange inflated pillow, stuck between two Klaxxo.

"Miku, look!" Argentea stops near the object, squatting. Examining the strange cushion, Miku remembered a certain training drill for practicing crew ejection.

"Don't tell me that someone ejected in the middle of the fight!" She felt weird, because the thing found was a deployed FranXX emergency capsule, surrounded in anti-shock inflatables.

"Perhaps they were lucky enough to launch in the moment before the destruction of their mech." Zorome speculates.

Upon puncturing it, the air cushion deflates and, approaching the capsule, two human forms could be seen inside from a glass port: a boy with short black hair and a girl with red horns and pink hair, lying next to each other, unconscious.

The eyes of Argentea widen dramatically. "...Are you kidding me?"

...

* * *

 **Crime and punishment - END**

* * *

...


	6. Chapter 6 :: Survivors

...

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

 **Survivors**

* * *

...

(CHAPTER PENDING REWRITE)

Immersed in dense darkness, I ascend to the surface.

I pierce the veil and breathe as if I had been breathless for days.

I open my eyes slightly and the little light that surrounds me assails me.

Where am I...?

My eyesight clears as I rub my eyes. I'm lying on a mattress, under blankets and with my head on a comfortable and wide pillow... In front of me I have something that blocks the light.

Feeling all my muscles semi paralyzed, I turn sideways and wait for the confusion in my head to subside, and a white room of 6 square meters welcomes my sight, without a ceiling... all still blurred.

I plunge under my pillow and find my communicator... I turn it on and look at the time at the top right of the holographic screen. The orange light dazzles me as I read that it is 5:47.

A bit early to wake up. But I don't want to sleep anymore... maybe 6 hours are enough.

The orange light illuminates the room. Looking up, I see the second mattress of my bunk bed on which I fainted last night, and I become aware that... I must remember myself to change the mattress with the one above, this one destroyes my back every night!

I walk my arm over the mattress and look for something on the floor, searching blindly.

Where did I throw them?

My hand closes on my sports glasses, which are then unceremoniously placed on my nose. I remain in place for a few minutes, observing the light in the room slowly intensifying.

I cling to the slats of the bed above and lift myself sitting, watching the room where I woke up: a pile of dirty clothes, three pairs of abandoned shoes, fishing rods left against the wall near the bed, an open suitcase next to a corner, plastic trays dirty with food folded in four and forcefully inserted in a basket, a tent that separates the room from the hallway ... today I _definitely_ have to clean.

I hope not to wake anyone up...

I rub my eyes to remove the remnants of the night and then get up in the semi-darkness, while my stomach cries out of hunger. So, should I wait three hours for breakfast? Forget it!

I take off my white pyjamas and, trying not to make a noise, I wear my off duty Stamen uniform: a single gray piece with blue inserts on my chest, short shorts, long sleeves with sewn shoulder straps, a zipper that starts from the white collar to the waist passing near a red Y reversed on my chest, the badge of my Plantation on the right of it and brown shoes with high dark gray socks.

I stretch myself, suppressing a brief yawn, and I take in two hands the stack of dirty clothes that are forcefully slipped into a bag previously launched on the upper bed. With the bag in one hand and the full basket in the other, I get out of the room pushing the curtain with my elbow.

The Parasite Dormitory, in the half-light of dawn, welcomes me: a huge room with a grey dome decorated with orange lines, with a diameter of a hundred meters, divided into concentric steps on which the Parasite rooms are built. The dome of the room is dotted with rows of skylights from which the still weak sun penetrates, and wide staircases connect the bands to the bottom of the room.

The silence of the tomb and the curtains pulled in all the rooms are indicators that everyone is still fast asleep. I do everything in my powers to walk in silence: it's not that everyone is grateful to be awakened at dawn like me. Who knows how Hiro felt when I shared the room with him and went fishing early...

I go down the stairs and take the elevator to the lobby floor, deserted and still in twilight. This was illuminated by the light of artificial gardens made up of steel trees, built behind look-through glass. What a desolation! Maybe if we find packs of flowers, we could ask Kokoro to plant some, so it distracts her and improves this depressing area... Actually, everyone needs a distraction. Even me.

Crossed the lobby, I walk through a double sliding door that gives onto a bridge, suspended between the sphere of the dormitories where my room is located. This passageway leads to the command section of the base, the curvy pointed building.

As I step outside, I am dazzled in surprise by the sun, just born from beyond the hills to the east... I stop for a moment to admire it, in the fresh morning breeze.

Continuing in the main building, another lobby welcomes me, made like the previous one. From it, labelled corridors branch out, one of which is called 'Maintenance', without windows. I turn on the lights and walk along it, up to a room labelled 'Washing Room', full of trolleys for transporting vestiary and rows of giant washing machines are integrated into the walls. I load my uniforms into a washing machine and start it off. Having to go around in pajamas is not very nice!

On leaving, opposite the door, I find a wall opening with a bell-shaped vertical access door, above which we can see the label 'Compactor'. I open it, raise the basket two-handedly, pour the contents in it and close the door again.

"Grrrbl! My stomach protests. I would eat anything now... maybe in the cafeteria I can find something.

I return to the lobby and approach the elevator in the middle of it, get inside and select the twenty-seventh floor button: 'Officer's Quarters'. The button scans my finger and lights green.

"Whew! Thanks, Hachi!" I'm happy that Hachi authorized us, we're the only ones here who are doing something.

Although sincerely, I don't blame the others.

...

* * *

...

I was still in my FranXX at Bird's Nest when Hachi called the end of operations and the return to base. Having done what we had to do, we were the first ones to be already laying our Franxx in the retention cage. Once that was done, we headed for the dormitories, expecting to see an Adult, a Guard, someone.

We didn't find anyone.

The service screens gave a single, brief message: 'All parasites are to gather at the Sphere One lobby for debriefing', accompanied by an arrow pointing the direction to follow.

We waited for our comrades to return in front of the door to Sphere One, one of the three parasite dormitories, not yet openable.

After about ten minutes, a river of Stamen and Pistils invaded the corridor and waited with us, with none of our squadmates yet arrived. The door finally opens and reveals a bridge, fire-red coloured from the sunset, connecting the corridor to the Sphere.

Advancing through with Ichigo at the head of the column, we entered the lobby by a solid automatic door. The Parasites who operated the field hospital were sitting on the ground waiting, in a pitiful state of both clothing and faces.

A sweaty Hachi stands in front of the black and white crowd, holding with one hand a small container about twenty centimetres tall. He places it on the ground and climbs up to it.

"Hello everyone." Said in his monotonous voice, while standing on the container. "Sorry the wait, but we brought the wounded to the hospital of the command building.

"Are they all fine?" A Pistil shouted from the crowd.

"Where are the Adults?" Other Stamens scream.

We were all incredibly scared.

Hachi raised his hands to appease everyone. "Yes, they're fine, but one thing at a time… Debriefing first."

With palms pressing the floor, he intimated "Everyone sit on the ground".

And they all sat down on the spot. Including the two of us. Ichigo took a frightened look at me.

"The evolution of the state of the operations was as follows." After a brief pause to recompose, Hachi began the debriefing.

"During the assault of the Klaxxo forces upon Gran Crevasse, an unknown enemy appeared, indiscriminately exterminating the forces of both sides: they identified themselves as VIRMs.

"The enemy attacked the area of mass operations with ground, air, and orbital forces. Our forces were overwhelmed by the mass of... I think robots, similar to our FranXXs. All of a sudden, the Klaxxosaurs disengaged our forces and attacked the VIRM mass, as you had seen being on the field. Star Entity had then been enclosed in a kind of suppression coating laid out by the new threat.

"Then, after our sabotage operation, the VIRM dome on Star Entity was blown up. The latter, using an unknown weapon, then proceeded to nuclearize the air column above the AO. Telemetry data suggest that orbital forces were on the fire direction of the weapon and were vaporized.

"Really?" I instinctively asked in disbelief, feeling all the hairs of my skin rising under my suit as if it were made of ice. "Nuclearized? Vaporized?" Everyone turned and looked at me.

"Yes. On the spot, thanks to drones, it was found that a column of radioactive air was suspended up to the exosphere. The weapon's 'beam' was of millions of degrees and caused the nuclear fusion of hydrogen, nitrogen and atmospheric oxygen in the trajectory all the way to space." Hachi said with tranquility.

Some of those present were looking at Hachi with my own incredulous expression of what they had heard, fixed in turn by their companions. Unlike everyone else, double codes like me knew what you were talking about.

At the time, my mouth was so open that someone could shove an arm in it.

"…056?" Hachi addressed me. "Can you tell me what a Gamma Ray Burst is?

"Yes! Ehm...". I stand up, but I'm still stubborn with words. I recompose myself and enunciate: "A Gamma Ray Burst is an explosive reaction caused in collapsing supernovae or neutron stars colliding... it is a ray of plasma and high-energy particles that is capable of incinerating everything that hits... stars, planets... it is one of the most catastrophic events in the observable universe."

Hachi nodded. "Good'.

I sit down, then Hachi continues. "That was Star Entity's weapon, albeit on a very small scale. Heavy fusion products fell to the ground, but the neutron-activated air column remained suspended for hours on the battlefield due to altitude winds. Then, passing the time, they fell towards the ground."

In response, I looked at him with a destroyed expression. Ichigo's eyes were open wide and her breath was broken.

"I couldn't let you stay any longer, because your FranXX are not equipped for that scenario. You would have found yourself irradiated, unable to drive and in danger of life."

He sighed. "… I have set up an exclusion zone within 30 kilometers of Gran Crevasse."

A whisper imposes itself, while those present look around lost.

"What...?" The curly-haired boy with who had contacted me and Ichigo on the battlefield, 371, got up and took the floor. "What will become of our comrades left on the battlefield? We can't leave them there!

"They won't survive the night."

The boy looks at him with dismay. "So why don't we return immediately? They will die!"

"Until this afternoon the amount of exposure inside your FranXX on the battlefield had remained at 0.01 Sieverts per hour, and now it has been calculated that it will touch about 0.1 Sieverts per _minute_. This means that if you go back there, you will receive a lethal dose of radiation in less than an hour."

"But... MY TEAM IS STILL UNDER THERE‼" He screamed while tears came down from his eyes.

Hachi looked at it with a stoic expression but with one side of his mouth pulled downwards.

"Sorry. We can't do anything."

The boy covers his face with two hands and falls on his knees, sobbing. His pistil embraces him. Everyone looked at themselves and realized the catastrophe, so other hiccups filled the room.

An atmosphere of mourning takes over the lobby. Hachi looks at everyone, inexpressive.

All of a sudden, a short, but deserted, brown-haired, low, slender-bodied Stamen raised from behind the crowd.

"Are you saying that all those who are left behind are to be given for dead?"

I recognize him: it's Argentea's Stamen, Zorome.

Hachi nods.

The boy was looking at him with open-mouthed. Then he put his hand on his mouth, turned around and dashed out of the lobby. A girl with long red hair gathered in two high twintails, the same height as Zorome, ran out with him. She is Miku, the Pistil of Argentea. She tried in every way to hold his companion back: both came out on the bridge. Zorome, while Miku held him by his shoulders, leaned out of the parapet and barfed.

The door then closed.

I looked at Ichigo, she responded with eyes full of tears. I, too, could barely held back my tears as a chasm was opening in my chest. Something absolutely horrifying... all the efforts made on the ground, useless. At that point, for them I could only hope that they would not suffer.

After a few minutes of silence in which the crowd painted itself with glances of pain, Hachi resumed.

"After the destruction of the orbiting forces, all VIRM soldiers freezed instantly as if they were drones and the Klaxxo forces withdrew. Then fleets of... fixed-wing aircraft... of the Klaxxosaurs emerged from the ground in vertical flight, directed into Earth orbit. Thus, all the enemy forces had left the battlefield."

"Our units... still operational consisted of 42 Franxx and their crews, totalling 84 unharmed Parasites. Crews recovered amounted to 81 evacuated pests, including 43 wounded 13 of whom were seriously injured. There are 83 confirmed deaths, while..."

Hachi stopped, the crowd was hanging from his lips.

"...Two hundred FranXX are still missing, that is about four hundred Parasites".

Everyone took the blow in silence. Most looked down, crawled or arched their backs forwards. Lost glances languish in the air, including my own and Ichigo's.

I was completely devastated, I had never understood what it meant to lose anyone, and now I knew it.

Looking at the crowd, I could recognize the contracted faces of my teammates, Mitsuru, Kokoro, Futoshi and Ikuno, with a devastated Miku returning to the lobby holding on to a weeping Zorome...

I could see some red suited Parasites not far away, sitting in a circle...

Hachi got off the container and sat on it. He grabbed his chin, pensive... and fixes my gaze. I diverge my own, embarrassed, and with the tail of my eye I see his swaying between me and my squad companions. Then he takes a deep breath and gets up.

"The debriefing is over. Hachi concluded. "The doors to the dorms are open. After changing in the locker rooms in the corridor you just went through, go immediately to your rooms."

"All except the Nines and Plantation Squad 13."

I looked at him frightened, with the sense of guilt that slammed into my chest to the rhythm of my heart. Did I make any errors in the operation? Was it my fault...? Ichigo next to me was scared to death as well, her uncontrolled breath going off. I instinctively took her little hand, and she replied squeezing back hard.

...

* * *

...

Everyone around me slowly got up and went to the dorms. Many remained like me sitting. Hachi approached the moving crowd and gave some directions. "Help your companions to get up. Don't wander."

I looked around and found my companions as frightened as I am, but ready to take their responsibilities. Ichigo leaved my hand and suddenly got up, slamming on the ground the heels of his suit with a serious look, determined and ready to receive the harsh truth. With arms crossed at the front and a high back, now more than ever, she was the team leader I knew.

I rose in turn, strengthened by her example. Our teammates imitated us and formed a line in front of a Hachi, with Zorome and Miku still holding each other up.

The red suits, the Nines, approached and did the same. Three girls with long grey hair and steel mandibles, Zeta, Eta and Theta, were supporting three boys: Alpha with golden hair, Beta with turquoise hair and Gamma with red tailed hair. The last three had fatigued, painted white faces.

Alpha looked at him impassively. "You know we don't answer to you, don't you?

"Yes, I know. What you do from now on falls on yourself."

"Papa..."

"I confirmed that Papa is no longer here. The APE High Command is empty." Without heart or hesitation, Hachi interrupted him.

It seemed nothing strange to me.

Alpha became agitated in the grip of her partner. "No… It's not possible!"

"Try to confirm it later, then. From now on, you respond only to yourself." Hachi repeated.

Alpha froze in place while the red and the turquoise boys looked and nodded, unhappy.

"This also applies to all of you." He looks at us.

What?

"Hachi, what-" Ichigo inquired.

"I... didn't doubt that the other Parasites wouldn't be able to hold the briefing. You are instead...special, as Dr. FranXX used to say." Hachi explains.

I look around and my mates had giant question marks on their faces, as I almost couldn't see through mine.

"I have closely watched you during your stay in the Plantation 13 Mistilteinn, and I must say that you are completely different from any Parasite I have ever seen."

"Strictly..."? He asks Miku embarrassed.

"In the limit of decency, of course. I think you understood that you are different because you were given the opportunity to be so, right?"

Everyone was watching him in silence. Remembering the Parasites of Plantation 26, I nodded.

"The fact that you have not been indoctrinated as soon as put into service, your FranXX modeled in the mental image of the Pistil to decrease piloting dysphoria, more freedom of action and thinking..."

My head screamed: 'WAIT A MOMENT!'

"Do you mean that ALL parasites are subject to brainwashing like 326 and 556?" Asked Ichigo, who was as displaced as I am.

"No, it's something deeper, it's a kind of emotional block. You don't have that problem."

"P-Problem?" Ichigo asked him.

"Yes...problem. Dr. FranXX did not approve of this. And I with him."

A pause, then he resumed.

"Returning to the subject again... For that reason, you are best fitted to know the situation 100%, including the Nines present here, who are also were not indoctrinated."

The Nines, taken from the speech, became serious. The redhead, Gamma, asked in turn.

"Is it about the Adults?"

"Yes."

Hachi remains immobile. Something really heavy was about to befall on us, I felt it. But with my team-mates, I was ready for anything.

"The Adults are all dead."

Almost everything.

...

* * *

...

DING!

The jingle makes me look up and I see the door of the elevator opening on the lobby of the officers.

I can't take that moment out of my head. Like everyone else... as they shut themselves in in their rooms, furnished in such a way as to have as much privacy as possible. Only from time to time you could observe a parasite going out to wander aimlessly, or to look for a teammate.

For us of the plantation 13 however there was no time to dwell.

The elevator door closes in my face... Maybe it's better to get out of here, Goro, what do you think? Becoming an elevator decoration is not an occupation you aspire to.

I reopen the door and enter the luxurious lobby: oval, covered in orange carpets on which white leather sofas and chairs are placed, glass tables and a minimal-style reception, lit by suspended brass LED candelabra. At the center spurts away a crystal clear water fountain, at the center of which lies a tall, elongated statue depicting the stylized symbol of Papa. The outer walls are covered with maple wood, covered with giant paintings of pre-Klaxxo nature scenes.

How green... I miss Mistilteinn.

From here I take the corridor to the right of the reception and enter into a double service door, taking me into a grey and anonymous corridor, with a window on one side and a series of sliding doors on the other. I place my bag and my basket in front of the third door and open it. It welcomes me to a small room with a window, a table, some chairs scattered around and, attached to the wall, a long piece of furniture that Hachi calls 'kitchen'.

I had never seen in my life how food was prepared, but Hachi showed us how... it looks interesting! Maybe I'll ask him to give me some books about it, when he stops going around with the cargo plane...

For now, however, I wash my hands on the kitchen sink and open what Hachi calls 'Fridge' and a pleasant cool invests me: looking inside I find vegetables, meat, fruit... all in raw form. Then, on the top shelf, a large piece of cream cake on a saucer.

Oh my!

Pricing the flavor, take it out and close the fridge. Then I open a drawer and pull out a bowl full of black plastic capsules, the size of my palm, and a cup from a cupboard. I therefore turn to the machine resting on the working surface of the kitchen, which produces a bitter but at the same time interesting drink: coffee.

If only would I remember how it works!

I look at it intensely, passing my hand on my chin and playing with the capsule with the other. Come on, really? I saw Hachi using it with my own eyes!

If only it was easier to operate... maybe if it was like a FranXX, I could just call Ichigo here, let her touch the machine and I, from behind, cling to her hi... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO STOPSTOPSTOPEMBARASSED

The door suddenly opens and an Ikuno peeps out with her head, framing me with her bespectacled eyes.

"What are you doing with your arms hanging forward and the face red?"

Oh fuck-

"Ehehehe, nothing, nothing, I swear to you!" I say as I recollect myself while passing a hand on my hair.

"Don't lie, of whom were the hips?" She asks me smiling slightly.

Wow, she's like a hawk-

"What hips? Coffee machines have no hips." I say with a giant poker face.

"But what were you doing then?" She looks at me amused.

"I didn't remember how that works, so I tried to trace Hachi's movements. By the way, already awake?"

"Hachi? Don't you be kidding me... Yes, already standing, what about you?"

You can't do it to Ikuno!

"Yes, every now and then I wake up early- when I went fishing I used to do it often..."

Ikuno looks at the slice of cake and then me, swelling his cheeks. "Won't you share...?"

"Oh sure! But... do you know how to turn this on...?" Giving her the capsule.

"Yes... Yesterday I... exaggerated with coffee..." She tells me, and I notice the slight dark circles behind her thick black framed glasses, as she takes the thing from my hand. "I ended up reading all night."

Whoa, an all-nighter!

"Ah, by the way... yesterday when I left the cake, it was half..." I point out to her, high cheekbones.

Ikuno becomes green with embarrassment and looks the other way. "I-It wasn't me!"

What a L-I-A-R! I send her an amused look, then I give in. "Well, let's do half of the slice each."

Ikuno smiles radiant! An Ikuno with cake is a happy Ikuno!

Cut the slice in two and transport it to another saucer, while she opens the machine, puts the wafer into a slot, closes it, places two cups under the nozzles and presses a button. The machine starts buzzing and, in no time at all, two light streams of coffee come out, one per cup.

"Milk?" I ask her.

"Hm hm!" She replied in the affirmative.

She waits for the machine to finish working and I look at her: she's in a standard Pistil off-duty uniform similar to mine, but instead of shorts she has a skirt up to her knees and an X instead of my upside down Y. Then my gaze falls on her white hair gathered on the back with a purple hairpin... not so long ago it was dark-purple colored.

I know that this time I cannot help but tell her how I feel.

"Ikuno... is everything ok...?"

She looks at me and she sighs. "Yes..." She then stares at the coffee machine with rancor. "Does that make me ...unwatchable?"

"Whaaaat? No, No! Are you joking!"

"Everyone considers me like a terminally sick person... I'm sick of it." She clings to the kitchen's top, looking away.

I understand... you are a very proud person.

"The Ikuno I know doesn't deserve this. You saved us all that day, and to do so you sacrificed something enormous. Ikuno, I owe you my life."

"..." Her hard expression breaks.

"I... you're a teammate of mine...is it not normal... to look each other's back? To take concern for each other...?" I explain.

She looks at me with an open mouth, cheered. "Y-Yes, I guess..."

Wasn't it supposed to be natural...?

"...Thanks, Goro. I'm fine, it really was just the hair decoloring by itself."

I really hope for her that wasn't just her wishful thinking, and that she got an actual medical scan.

The coffee machine stops buzzing, and Ikuno disenchants herself. She removes the cups as I place the cakes on the table with teaspoons, in opposite seats. She puts the coffee next to the cakes, and the milk pack in the middle.

"...Sugar?" She asks me with meek voice.

"No, thank you."

We sit down at the table and start to give ourselves in with the cake. At the first bite, her mouth curls upwards.

"You... somehow changed." I say this by adjusting my glasses. "In the past, you used to be by yourself a lot."

"Mh... You too. Before didn't fantasized on clinging to the hips of a certain someone I know."

Oh, you.

"You're the one talking. You've already tried it once, didn't you?"

Our smug glances collide in fireworks while we take a sip out of our coffees. I am proud to have a rival like her.

Suddenly, the door opens behind me. I turn around and see a newly awakened pajama'd Miku, dishevelled twintails and half-asleep face, whose gaze rests on the cake saucer, emptier than emptiness.

"NOOOOOOOO! The caaaaaaaakeeeeeeeee! She clings to her tails, exclaiming in pure despair.

You can't have the cake and eat it as well.

...

* * *

 **Survivors - END**

* * *

...

 **Chapter sources:**

Gamma Ray Burst: youtube (dot!) com/watch?v=RLykC1VN7NY&t=177s

Neutron Activation and Ionizing Radiation: wikipedia (dot!) org/wiki/Neutron_activation | wikipedia (dot!) org/wiki/Ionizing_radiation

Sievert unit and exposure table: wikipedia (dot!) org/wiki/Sievert

Expect more of these sources when I bring up science stuff!


	7. Chapter 7 :: Our life beyond

…

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

 **Our life beyond**

* * *

…

You know, I'm not really a social type of guy. I always preferred going about my day surrounded by beautiful nature, dozing off while looking at the fishing line's floater grazing the lake's surface and waiting for it to bob, bothered by some unfortunate fish. Then, when bored, taking a hike through the forest touching the barks of the trees, stepping over the roots sprawling along the earthen paths or just lying down in the shade of a cherry tree next to Mistilteinn main stone path.

When you're a Parasite, you get used in being alone. Alone not in terms of being with people, but in terms of being cared by someone. In the Garden, the place where we grew up, we were watched constantly by Adults and their firm presence, both in the classrooms and the playground. While mostly silent, every issue we had was swiftly taken care of and in no way we were mistreated. I felt really protected back then, as those white figures could solve my ever-little problems, as I trusted them even if their permeable attitude stroke in me a bit of fear.

I hated the Children there: too much brazen, over the top and spoiled, so I spent half of my days squabbling and brawling, constantly at the end of my rope. The time I met my two dear friends, Ichigo and Hiro, was the most beautiful time in my life. I used to pass every other second with them, bouncing back the others in the security of my deep friendship. They grew with me at the Garden in the same playground, in the same classroom and then we earned the same glass cage.

Then, when you enter Mistilteinn, you start feeling alone. No adult watching over you, no one to reprimand you of your bad-fitted collar or because you've woken 5 minutes late. You just have to manage your time by yourself and follow the daily training schedule, composed primarily of Para-Capacity tests, combat simulation at the training units and induced stress management at your FranXX while docked. Live FranXX tests were very costly, so in no way were enforced in a regular basis, as the only live training allowed was the actual combat. Outside of that, you're enclosed in a glass dome, alone, with yourself and your free time, doing nothing worth of doing, chasing off the bore.

In truth, even if I thought my squad mates are really good people and worth spending my time with, I kept being alone and layering myself in even though we shared the same life and dormitory. I felt that the thing that brought us together was something artificial, so I couldn't see bonding with the others something _more significant_ compared to staying with my best friends, which was the most spontaneous thing ever.

With time though, among us three changed something: we found love. Hiro did first, then Ichigo started felling the same unrequited love towards Hiro that I felt for her. Things became a bit painful and still are, according to our recent interactions, so I kinda decided to step back a bit and be more aware of what happens around me, to avoid being fixated on a problem for which I didn't have a solution.

I wonder if that glass cage is still over my head.

"Goro, what's the matter? Your gaze is about open a hole in the glass."

I recoil, and realize I am standing at the kitchen's window, arms crossed, mug in hand, staring the reddish sun now well awake while monologuing in my head and ignoring completely Ikuno and Miku. The two sipping away at their coffee with particular gusto, seated next to each other, opposite to my seat.

"Oh, damn, sorry! I was thinking." I answer back to Miku, realizing my rudeness. Her sudden entrance made me offer her my remaining half of the cake slice and, after serving her some coffee, I just started wandering off.

"Head-at-cloud-level Goro." Miku teases.

"Talks the spooky ghost demanding sweet sacrifice."

"Whaaat? Watch who you're addressing as spooky!"

"Are you conscious that you're still in your night gown? And that you're still wearing your morning face?"

"You were not supposed to be here, thieves! I think there's more of it in the other fridge, but what if we run all out of cake?" Miku crossed her arms, sure of delivering a very important point.

I sit down with the two fellow-early-risers.

"What if we learn how to… prepare a cake?"

"Owo! Goro! Genius!" Ikuno picks herself up from her meek attitude while Miku opens her eyes and mouth in surprise, now well awake.

I lean forward on the table, and the girls do the same.

"The problem is that Hachi has all the cooking books and I don't know where the ingredients are." I confide with low voice.

"We must recover them!" Miku shoots up with determination.

"And negotiate with him to obtain the precious tomes!" Ikuno conspires.

"Then, when everything's ready, we're going to shut ourselves in here and figure out how to prepare it!" I say confidently.

"I think we need to learn how to cook with the stoves first…" Ikuno adds with concern. "We really don't want to cause a mess in our first try… Let us start with something basic."

"Yes! Then, when we get good at it, we're gonna never run out! Damn, the times of just eating pre-prepared food are over!" Miku fires up her fists.

"I was just about to give in about that, too." I add at the end. In fact, the standard rations are just h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e! I don't know how people can live on that stuff for so long. Compared to what we were used eating back at Mistilteinn, it looks like someone scooped up mud from the ground and shoved it in cans! However, most of the bulk food here in Bird's Nest consists in stale combat rations, so fresh food is a must.

"So, deal?" Offering my two hands at them.

"Deal!" Ikuno and Miku shake them in unison, happy as ever.

You can't stop the cake. Nope. Too strong.

Clak- The door opens, and a confused Futoshi looks over the scene of absolute understanding. Me and the girls I was playing arm wrestling with turn to meet the new member of the assembly.

"Whaaat are you doing here at past 7 shaking hands?" Asks in his high-pitched baritone voice. "Thought I would be all alone here. Good Morning!" He smiles and raises his hand.

"Hi Futoshi, good morning." Ikuno turns and salutes him.

"Hi Futoshi!" Miku says over her shoulder.

"Hi man, how's things?" I ask him.

"Plain, just woke up… Whoa Ikuno, you didn't sleep, did you?"

"Does it show?" Ikuno rhetorically asks.

With a solar smile on his face, Ikuno's Stamen Futoshi sports his off-duty uniform with abundance. He's almost as tall as me, but double wide: not the kind of unhealthy fat, but the type of natural wideness to his body that, completed with a bit of meat around the bones, makes for a wardrobe of a guy. With brown-reddish hair, wide but short eyebrows, large nose, squared jaw and large mouth.

"So… you're the coffee people, but I'm making tea!" Futoshi approaches the kitchen, opens an upper shelf and takes out a silver water boiler, he fills it with water then places it on the induction plate below.

"Away with you!" Miku shames him jokingly.

"No one can stop me alright! Not you, coffee people! And I see the cake's over, good thing I'm not a sweets kind of guy."

"Bread-man, now you're joking on us, but we've got a plan!" Miku warns him pointing the index towards him.

"Plan? Does that involve the beautiful loafs you two had prepared at Mistilteinn? If so, I'm into it!"

"Aw…! Don't compliment, it's against the rules!" Miku protests, while Ikuno is slightly stunned.

"Let me dream! That 'thing' that comes with the rations feels like eating a slab of concrete."

Then Futoshi opens a drawer and takes out a small tin tea sack container and places it on the kitchen's top, then he turns and leans on it, relaxed, waiting for the water to boil.

"How's the day looking for us?" He then asks.

"Don't make me remember. Ichigo surely will, in a tornado of screams." Miku waves in hand in front of her face, making her disappoint clear about Ichigo's short temper on command. Which is really a thing I never found myself into, because, even at the greatest disappointment, all I get is a frown or an ogle. _That time_ was worth it tho. I hope Miku doesn't hear my thoughts coming out.

"Oh, wait, you said we're past seven? I need to go change!" Miku shoots up her seat, but first smiles at me. "Thanks for the slice Goro, you're a lifesaver!"

"No problem, we're gonna wait until everyone's here. 8:30 maximum, ok?"

"Yup yup, be right back!"

She then whirls her gown and dashes out of the kitchen in her slippers, Futoshi looking at her mad dash. When the clapping on the floor gets sufficiently away, he comments. "Well, was that surprising! As worried with looks as her, I'd never thought that she would come out of her room like that."

"That's what happens when she stops sharing a room with Kokoro." Adds Ikuno.

"Whoa, keep down with you girl's inner workings!" I protest, while contemplating a new perspective on Miku and her best friend, Kokoro.

She then takes a sip out of her coffee and shrugs her shoulders. But really, we've began to live each one alone only just recently. I wonder how's the consensus on that new part of life...

"How's the alone thing going for you guys?" I ask, curious to hear the stories.

"Ah! Well, it feels a little lonely." Futoshi judges with somewhat a little nostalgia. "I'm used in sharing a room with Mitsuru and Zorome, the silence just feels wrong. But since I just go there to sleep, so it's whatever… I'd only need some furniture to place my things into, since living off the travel case is a little hard for me!"

"Same." Ikuno nods. "Especially the furniture part, since I need to place my books somewhere and the floor feels like an insult to me. Being alone sure is lonely..." She then glances intensely at me. Strange! What are you looking at? Maybe she thinks I was jealous? I wonder what she feels about Ichigo's change in behaviour, since she shared a room with her.

"I'm instead already used to it, since Hiro more than often would go and spend the night at 02's… I definitely sometimes need to check myself on how I manage things, I laxed myself at such point that I tend to neglect my room." I confess to the other two.

"Whoa, they really did that?" Ikuno enlarges her eyes in wonder, while adjusting her seating position in a more interested way. "How much often?"

Oh…no! Be damned me and my big mouth. Whatever, the cat's out of the bag.

"Practically every night…?"

"So, Hiro trespassed our side of the dormitory to stay with 02 at night… Interesting."

She adjusts her glasses, while sporting a judging look towards me. Why blaming me…? Was I meant to block him from going out and tie him to the bed? You should know you can't hold Hiro from doing something, it has been proven time and time again!

"…Whatever, just kidding, we already knew." She jests with a light smile. "Everyone really knew, even that pure soul Zorome."

Figure yourself…!

"Yeah! The moment he discovered it, I was the one that knew first… he came in shouting like a madman!" Futoshi added, with a slight embarrassment. "With him, it was a constant throwing my arms up, in regard to tact."

Whew, crisis averted!

Then the water boiler behind him started hissing. "Ah, water's ready!" Futoshi takes out a mug from a nearby cupboard where he pours a cupful of hot water, then immerses in it a bag out of the tin box along with a sugar cube. Then he sits to the side of the table between me and Ikuno and starts to stir slowly the drink.

"To be honest, I didn't have the time to really set in, this place is still so foreign to me." He adds. "And, yeah, I'm still a bit anxious over all the things happening, so I can't help it…"

Damn right.

The door creaks open once again, to reveal a Kokoro in uniform with a surprised face. Her blond-cindered hair now loosened and falling free on her back and held on her front by a blue cloth circlet, she makes a polite bow with her hands joined together.

"Good morning, everyone. Already here? Everyone had the same idea." Her calm, high voice reaches us.

"Good morning, Kokoro!" Futoshi salutes her.

"Hi Kokoro." Ikuno greets her.

"Hello, Kokoro." In my turn.

"Do you want some tea? Water's just got ready." Futoshi asks her, as she approaches the table. She looks at him and smiles, nodding.

"With lemon, please." She bows towards him in thanks.

Futoshi prompltly gets up and returns to the kitchen to repeat the same ritual with another large cup. Meanwhile, Kokoro proceeds to sit between Futoshi and Ikuno, waiting for her tea to arrive.

"Early risers?" She asks meekly.

"Yeah! Guess my wake-up hour." I challenge her to a quiz.

She stares at my face and brings her hand on her chin, her blue eyes dancing on me. "Uhmm… you don't look knackered… seven?"

"Nope! Six!" I buzz at her incorrect guess. She gets quite surprised!

"Now try me." Ikuno asks her. Kokoro then shoots a glance at her, and remains a bit taken aback while she examines her.

"…Yesterday…?"

I instantly burst into laughter, while Ikuno's face gets all red! "Ahahaha! …oh, Ikuno! You've been found out!" All the while Kokoro makes a 'No way!' face.

"It's you that gave it away, you dumb Goro!" Ikuno pouts at me. "There's a reason though." She addresses Kokoro.

Then Futoshi places the cup of tea for Kokoro in front of her, already with the right amount of sugar and a teaspoon, also with a bowl of cookies. She leans over and smells the cup deeply with eyes closed and her delicate mouth's sides curl up. "Thanks, Futoshi. Mmm, smells good!" He sits beside her and takes a sip out of his tea, while she stirs it and blows on it to cool it off.

I just slide a bit back on the seat of my chair, left arm abandoned on the table and a leg placed sideways on my other knee. While Ikuno tells Kokoro about the book she read throughout the night, I finish my already lukewarm coffee and place the empty cup on the table, while Futoshi starts doing the same with his tea, accompanying it with a bunch of salted crumbles from the cookies bowl.

Minutes later, a bustling of footsteps closes to the rec room's door announces our other comrades showing up for the daily meeting: Mitsuru, Zorome and a renewed Miku, in her uniform and with properly combed hair. Greetings and hands waving accompanying their entrance, then they sit down at the table, Mitsuru at my left, Miku already loudly arguing with Zorome next to Ikuno.

"Hi Mitsuru, how's things?" I ask my newly arrived companion.

"Hello Goro. Looks like we're on time." He greets me with his noble demeanor, sitting properly and leaning his arms on the table. His skimped grayish short hair really contrasts his attitude… previously, he had longer hair, combed all towards the back, giving him some character. But he was also _really_ unapproachable, so I'll take this compromise.

"Coffee?"

"Oh, no, thanks, I'd like just a cup of milk, you know… the usual." He gets up to fetches a cup, gesturing a salute at Futoshi, that answers back with the hand holding a piece of crumble. Then he freezes in his walk and turns as my attention gets caught too, because Miku starts to get loud.

"Again, that's a no!" Miku's energetically pointing towards Zorome's face took my attention.

"Oh, come on, Miku! I tell you it's fun! Have you ever tried one?" He argues, open arms in the air trying to explain something to her unreceptive partner. "Even if it's not, it's very useful!"

"Are you deaf? The problem is that Hachi says it's DANGEROUS! You-will-break-your-neck!"

"It's not, Hachi is really blowing things up." Says Zorome shoving his hand aside. "I bet he never really tried and just labelled them. I can tell the Adults used them for everything."

"Did you…?"

"Yeah, what do you think, that I'd run back and forth the Command Station for a simple permission?" He clarifies with a rebellious tone.

"Zorome! Why do you ALWAYS have to disobey?" Miku becomes louder and particularly furious.

"It's not dangerous AT ALL! I used it to bring the medical supplies to the hospital and it was quick as hell! Think of the time we would save with everything we have on our hands!"

Miku suddenly shoots up from the chair, stiff arms along her body and her hands closed shut. "You! You…!" She screams while her breath starts to get heavy, her back slouches as her expression gets sourer and sourer. "You…" As her voice moistens, she covers her face with both hands. Then she utters in an unstable and pained voice: "I HATE YOU!"

Zorome recoils back in pure incredulity while his partner shoots out of the room, in tears.

I disenchant myself and notice that everyone present in the room is witnessing the arguing, so when a pained Zorome looks around confused and meets our inadvertently judging gazes combined, a shade of shame crushes his expression.

"I…" He tries to exculpate himself, to no avail. As his voice crumbles, he looks towards the door and freezes in his seat with guilt. Then he snaps and, slowly, slouches on the table and plunges his head into his own arms, almost trying to enter a pocket dimension in the table.

That was not a good thing to see… I never saw Miku arguing so intently and being so emotional over something. Usually it's norm between those two to dish out some arguing if having two different opinions on something, but this was over the top compared to the other times. This Zorome is the usual one, always talking back to a Miku that freely enforces things on him even on the simplest of whim, but this time it was different… beats me why.

Mitsuru takes a disheartened look at me, then resumes his cup fetching.

An upset Ichigo swiftly enters the room, while looking the way Miku went.

"Hello everyone, what the hell happened?" Ichigo asks the room. "I just saw Miku running off… What did you do to her, Zoro-" As she was sternly asking, she notices the state of whom she was talking to and stops in her tracks.

"…Nevermind. Could someone go and fetch Miku? Today we need everyone's hands on the ready." She places a digital tablet on the table where Miku was seated earlier, as Ikuno calmly gets up and goes out of the room to reach out for the missing girl.

After a short while, a red-eyed Miku returns to the room, still downcast, with Ikuno on her suit. She traverses the room staring at the ground, eyes still red and teary, to silently lean against the kitchen's top arms crossed, while Zorome glances at her with a distraught expression. With everyone on the ready and waiting, Ichigo starts her pitch, holding in her arms the wide tablet.

"Okay team, today's not really different from the previous days: we distribute breakfast, lunch then dinner. The deep fridges we found yesterday, according to their storage manifest, were chocked full of food containers, so we're really set on food for the next month."

"Nice!" Exclaims Mitsuru while faces of relief ensued between us.

"With the food shortage averted, we should now focus on exploring the other storage locations and try to recover medical supplies, daily occurrence stuff, and… more importantly, access codes. We need _those_ more than food, anyhow."

The cheerful atmosphere dies at the prospect.

"Yeah, I know, but we're up for the task. You know the drill…"

Unfortunately, yes.

"That's the afternoon task. This morning, to do: a full round up of the living quarters, cleaning, thrash removal, swap the water tanks with clear water."

That's a really long list! Have mercy!

"Then, the week-long tasks are to check on the water filter's performance, clean the food dispensers and assess the health of the injured. About that… we need really to thank the guys at the medical camp that stuck around even after it was disbanded."

A pause, then I shoot my hand out.

"Goro?"

"Code 376 and some others volunteered for duty."

"Really?" She gets out of her serious attitude.

"Yeah, yesterday she got my attention and told me she would be of use, after noticing us. It's her and six others."

"Nice… it's good that someone's reacting. We really need more people helping! She could do today's cleaning."

"I could gather them and show them the ropes." I suggest.

"Yeah! You do that, then come up to the medical building with Hachi and me. He just returned, by the way."

"Roger."

"Then, who's on the trash?"

"I'm in for that." Futoshi proposes himself. "I'll help." Ikuno also responds to the call.

"Nice. Now, since we have floor cleaning duty taken care of, giving some maintenance to the dispensers is in order, since we've been using them for a week without a check-up. Just follow the manual's instructions!"

Yeah, I don't know if that's the right way to go around a 'full maintenance roundup'… since just looking at a coffee machine makes everyone's head hurt.

"I'm in." Miku says still downcast. "Reading some instructions and mashing buttons will cheer me up."

"Good. Take it easy. Mitsuru and Zorome, could you still be on transport today?"

"Sure." Zorome mutters. "Yeah. I'd swap the water tanks too." Mitsuru gestures affirmatively.

"I'll do the round-up of the living quarters, I'll see if someone's in need of something." Kokoro gives her contribution for the day.

"Nice, I'll be accompanying you for a while, until Goro sorts out the cleaning… Any questions?"

Zorome shoots the hand up.

"Is Hachi at the command station now?"

"Yes, he's there usually. Why?"

"Where does he go in the afternoons?"

"… Beats me." She wonders.

"If I have some downtime, I'd like to ask him about something… before he leaves."

"Like hell you do!" Miku goes verbally at his throat still angry, and Ichigo shoots her a glare.

"…" Zorome opens his hands to slow her down. "Not that thing."

"I don't trust you." She shoots back.

He then takes a good, deep breath, and explains further.

"…Nana."

Everyone looks at him taken by surprise, Miku included.

"I would like to ask him about her." Zorome states, as everyone exchanges glances made of pure uncertainty.

That's actually something I've been thinking for quite a while, asked the same amount but never got an answer… our long-time caretaker, that followed us since the Garden, was unassigned from us for unknown reasons just before we arrived here at Bird's Nest. Now, more than ever, I would like to learn what destiny she went through. Maybe she avoided making the same end of the Adults and, like us, is currently living off rations on some station not so far away… or not. It's _that doubt_ that really made me hesitate…

Maybe now that Hachi doesn't have obligations towards Papa anymore... we can know more.

"…Well. Ok, I guess… We'd all like to hear about her too… Permission granted. For now, stick with us. When we have a moment, you can go ask him."

"Thanks." Zorome starts smiling.

"Thanks for everyone, now let's get started! First, we're serving breakfast!" Ichigo marks the start of the day.

Zorome shoots up his seat smiling and shouts in challenge: "The last to reach the food dispensers gets to push the carts!"

The whole room gets up, ready to rumble.

…

* * *

...

[8:41 - 056] Hey 376, good morning, are you awake?

Hi Goro, yes [8:44 - 376]

Now I am [8:44 - 376]

[8:44 - 056] Sooorry!

Don't worry [8:44 - 376]

I should be apologizing instead [8:44 - 376]

I promised [8:45 - 376]

[8:45 - 056] Thanks for your dedication

I'm just a deep sleeper [8:46 - 376]

Gonna wake up the others [8:46 - 376]

[8:48 - 056] Ok

[8:48 - 056] Waiting you at sphere 2

[8:48 - 056] At the elevator

Just gimme 10 mins [8:49 - 376]

…

Orange-glowing fonts appear on the screen of my communicator while quickly tapping away at its virtual keyboard, forming a quick message for 376, still clearly tucked under the bedsheets.

…

[8:50 - 056] Ok

[8:50 - 056] But I'm already there

[8:50 - 056] Breakfast's ready

Areyoukiddingmealreadyyyyyyy [8:50 - 376]

…

I chuckle at the response, shooting upwards my head. Still smiling, I close the communicator and shove it in my pocket, while pushing me off the wall with my upper back. I direct myself over at the cart, beside which Miku was starting to distribute small plastic trays to the still half-asleep Stamens and Pistils, which were slowly descending the stairs still rubbing their eyes and yawning.

"What are you chuckling at, Goro?" Miku asks me, while handing over the day's first breakfast tray on the fastest Pistil of the bunch, visibly in need of a pick-me-up.

"Nothing." I say while handwaving. "The cleaning team is willing, but still asleep."

I then stop in front of the four-story cart full of trays stacked on top of each other and grab a bunch to help Miku distribute the breakfast for the Sphere. It's a tray small as much as my forearm and half wide, white plastic at the bottom enclosed by a transparent film, containing a capsule of condensed milk, some instant tea, two chocolate bars large as a finger and a pack of crackers, completed with much needed hand wipes. Really, if you've just awoken then it's not something to sneer at… I know there's something better, but all in all it's the next most readily available and long-conserving food we have, and it is way better than the dinner's goop we're forced to serve.

A gray-haired Stamen approaches and I salute while handing over a tray.

"Good morning." I greet him.

"Good morning, Goro." He gestures a salute and grabs the tray.

Whoa, what? He remembers my nickname? Cool, I don't remember his code though.

Another Stamen closes in and salutes the same way, grabbing another tray I was handing out.

"Hi, Goro. Cleaning day today?"

"Hello, yes, when I'm done here. New people are helping tho!"

Why…

"Hello Goro! Thanks!" A Pistil bows at me while taking the tray I hand her.

"Hi…"

Disconcerting. Is everyone just a bit cheerier than normal? That's… good I guess.

Another pack goes out, but the queue in front of me thickens of hungry people. Miku is in my same situation and complains loudly while handing out the packs.

"Aww! It's a breakout!"

So, taking that as a signal, I start to grab five packs at a time and to hand them quickly to not make everyone wait, but my poor arms can't really keep up for much: after a while, they begin to feel fatigued. When I see a golden-haired Pistil coming down the stairs, I feel my hopes are answered as I just stop and wave to her to grab her attention.

"Oi 376! I need help, please!" I yell at her.

She stops and shoots up her eyes over my direction to realize I was calling her. She handwaves at me in confirmation, cheerful.

"Hi Goro! Coming oveeer!" She then proceeds to grabs her skirt with both hand each side and descend the stairs while skipping steps, and then to launch herself towards the crowd between us.

"Please, make wayyy!" She shouts at the crowd.

A girl, with an athletic figure and slightly smaller than me, opens a rift into the sea of people. She has amber-colored short wavy hair, with a tiny short braid falling from the left temple, dancing at the rhythm of her stride, crowning a heart-shaped face with round eyes, short eyelashes, tiny eyebrows and thin mouth under a small straight nose and soft chins dotted by freckles.

"Gorooo! I'm ready to help!" She assures me in her heavy accent, as she dead-stops at my feet while still holding her skirt in one hand.

"Don't sweat it, it's not that we're gonna run out of tasks. What about the others?"

"They're getting down in a sec! And I thought I was the only one still sleeping...!" She then grabs an armful of packs and begins serving the packs like me, at my side. Miku slows down a little to stare at our newly recruited Pistil with narrow eyes and starts bouncing her intrusive gaze between me and her, all the while a Stamen was looking helpless, arms forward ready to receive a ration that wouldn't arrive.

"Miku, wake up!" I utter while turning. Damn, stop looking at me like that!

"Wha- sorry!" She recoils and faces the poor Stamen, finally realizing she totally forgot the now gigantic queue just in front of her. She ashamedly hands over the tray at him, that gives his thanks. Then she quickens herself, intending to make up for her mistake.

In a short while, the mass of people thins in a more manageable form and the stairs going up the Children's rooms fill of people eating breakfast and talking in a festive atmosphere. This reminds me a lot of memories from the Garden…

After given a tray to the last Children still in queue, I look at the cart and notice that about a quarter of the trays were still unclaimed.

"Some people are still sleeping!" Miku complains. "Who are we preparing those for? At least come and get your breakfast…!"

"It's that some Children don't really come out of their room at all. I'm 376, Plantation 17." She extends a hand to Miku in greeting.

"Hi, thanks for your help. I'm code 390, Plantation 13 and everyone calls me Miku. Glad to meet you!" Miku shakes her hand while taking a good look at her face. "How did you meet Goro?" She shoots out immediately after, her curiosity taking over.

"Well, we met yesterday in the girl's bathrooms."

As soon as 376 finishes the line, Miku's left eyebrow has a tic. I sense a very concrete omen… that I'm about to get toasted.

"WHAT!" Miku looks at me appalled, with extreme prejudice. "What were you doing in the girl's bathroom?"

"C… Cleaning. W-what's the matter?" I explain readily, trying to keep a straight face.

"In! The! Girl's! Bathroom!" She points at my face, the other hand on her side while glaring at my face.

"W-what about it?"

"Men shoudn't enter the girl's bathroom! IT'S FORBIDDEN!"

"If it's cleaning, what's the issue?" Says 376 while being completely aghast of Miku's outburst. "We girls should be thanking him instead of bashing him. And to be honest, I just barged in while ignoring the 'Don't enter' sign next to the door."

Way to go, 376!

"You should have seen him! His outfit just broke me hard into laughter!"

…Actually.

"That's the same stuff you're gonna wear today." I say with a grin on my face.

Realizing that, she recoiled. "Well…" She dances her eyes upwards, a bit taken aback.

"Don't worry, that comes with certain benefits… Fun is one of them."

"What's fun about that?"

"You'll see. I don't want to spoil the surprise…"

"…Ok then." She gets a little more interested.

Miku was still glaring at me… clearly not convinced.

"No way! Why did you allow yourself in? That's disgusting!" She still looks angered.

Now that's really brushing me vigorously the wrong way. It's ok that your privacy is your primary need. But I'm working for YOU! And it's a damn hard job too! This makes me infuriated!

"Then why don't you come and clean that yourself then, instead of always choosing the easy way out, like fidgeting like a moron at the food dispensers downstairs? It's easy just always receiving and critiquing while not giving, isn't it?" I just shout at her, words coming out like a flooded river.

Miku remains speechless on the spot while looking lost in my eyes, still arms crossed and stuttering intelligibly, while 376 remains a bit taken aback by my outburst. Now I might have just said a bit too much…

"…Sorry… for that." I say while feeling guilty. "But apart that… it's what I think. I didn't want to piss anyone off, but cleanings had to be done."

She slowly slumps while looking at the floor. After a while, she tears up.

"I-I know…" Says while sobbing.

"I know it all… I'm…"

"…Always just a nuisance for everybody…"

Oh no. Miku…

"N-No, come on now, Miku… I'm sorry about that, seriously."

Damn, what have I done. 376 is watching, too.

"I'm just nervous, that's all. Sorry." I apologize again.

"No Goro, it's… it's that I'm not… really right… in my mind." She still sobs on, leaning a little on the tray cart. "Zorome never listens to me, then I make even you mad at me… what am I even doing…?"

Then she takes a plastic tray and runs inside the elevator, going down to the lobby still sobbing. I make to follow her, only to get the elevator door to almost close into my nose.

"Sure it's hard to get an earful from you! But I feel you were right tho, if that lifts you up."

I look at 376 and ironically smirk, still downcast. There was a time where I just holed up in myself everything, just to not to concern myself with people. That changed overtime, but to lash out like that? I feel bad at myself-

"Why is she so negatively obsessed with guys cleaning? Actually, girls aren't like that!" She declares, cutting into my thoughts.

Girls aren't dense like you, too!

"No, that's not it. The reason why goes way back, actually… Do you want to have some breakfast?"

"Sure, but what about the remaining trays?" She asks, looking at the cart.

"It's ok leaving it there for now, there are people still left and those don't spoil anyways. I will take the cart downstairs when we're done with everything."

We grab a tray each and go sit down in an empty staircase not so far from that, then we crack them open and start eating from the lap. Naturally, after only half a cake slice, I have some hunger left. Since 376 is actually very easy to talk with, I try to strike a conversation.

"What about 371?" I ask about her Stamen.

"He's still not so well…"

"…I see."

"He's always been the slowest at this kind of things."

"…Did that happen… already?"

"Yes…"

She takes a pause to recollect herself, then she begins narrating.

"Five months ago, there was a Gutenberg-class Klaxxosaur rampaging through an important magma extraction site, and we were assigned to a sortie on the monster. After a long-winded useless battle where our spears wouldn't just penetrate its armor, our double digit fell in battle, to save the squad in retreat. He was our leader, and 371 was… his best friend."

Oh damn. This hurts only just from hearing it.

"…"

An embarrassed silence falls between us, but she breaks through it anyways.

"He stayed like that for a month, but then took the leader position. While in charge, he worked very hard to protect his team… and not let that happen again. Then…"

She hangs on the rest of the words. She doesn't actually need to say anything… because I already know the story's finale.

I just decide to remain is silence and finish my chocolate bar, trying not to empathize.

"He cared way too much about everyone."

Sometimes the world just hates you.

...

* * *

...

"Please, stay back! One at a time!" Futoshi yelled at the crowd while juggling breakfast trays. "They're not gonna disappear from thin air! Make a proper line!" The crowd made a step back and compacted into an inverted triangle in front of him. "Good, almost."

Ikuno, bothered by people all surrounding her, squeezes the eyes and swinging from left to right her arm, imitating Futoshi's call.

"Back, everyone." Ikuno just utters in an intense manner. But everyone in front of her literally scatters from the vicinity, in terror.

"D-Don't actually disappear, j-just step back a little." She comments, worried about the outcome.

The couple was distributing breakfasts at Sphere 1, the most populated one- that means a cart choke-full of breakfast trays and an insane workload on just the two of them, with the added difficulty that hungry people can't really have patience and most importantly, keep the hands on themselves. Then the two hear a -bling- at the lift, which opens and reveals a hurried Zorome greeting his friends.

"Cavalry's arrived!" He jollingly announces.

The two sigh in relief at his appropriate appearance. "Good Zorome, we desperately need an extra pair of hands!" Ikuno praises him.

Then the three proceed to distribute all the needed trays to the people in front of them, slowly chipping away at the number of people waiting. At some point, Futoshi notices something, a certain Stamen with brown long hair in a ponytail and a small chin.

"Hey, you! Don't enter the line again! You've just got your breakfast!"

"Sorry, but I need that for my teammate."

"Is your teammate able to walk? If so, call him here, I'm not going to give to you two of them! Rations are counted."

He puffs annoyed, then goes up the stairs from where he came.

"What a cheeky guy…!" He comments looking at his companions. Ikuno and Zorome looking at that exchange, nod in approval.

After a while, the Stamen with the ponytail returns with his companion, hand in hand, still in night dress. Futoshi, Ikuno and Zorome notice that something was… amiss. While keeping her head down looking at the floor, the Pistil brought to by the ponytailed Stamen… was way too small to be one. The crowd around notices the little presence and freezes looking at the scene in silence.

"Excuse me?" Ikuno halts on the spot, eyes open wide: the girl was a almost a meter smaller than his companion, and quite less mature than most of FranXX-guiding age Children.

"Is she… a Garden age Children?" She then gets close to inspect her.

The Pistil's empty expression morphs in fear as the bespectacled girl closes in. The little girl then launches herself behind his companion and hugs his back, her face pressed onto him, to hide from Ikuno, who stops in her tracks surprised by her behaviour.

"Now, could you please give me the ration without scaring her?" He utters, ignoring Ikuno's question.

"…Yes, of course. Sorry" Ikuno says bowing. Then she turns to get the girl the breakfast tray and dances her gaze between Futoshi and Zorome, both reciprocating and imperceptibly nodding. She gets a tray and hands it to the Stamen. The little girl detaches the face from her companion and peeks Ikuno, then Zorome, who notices the little girl and starts doing her funny faces. She wonders a little bit, then slowly her mouth curls in a meek smile.

"…What's your code?" She asks.

"121. Yours?"

"…196. Have a nice breakfast."

"Thanks. Good morning."

He then encloses the Pistil's hand with his own and starts walking back towards the rooms, the little one following him closely. Before leaving though, she looks back and meekly waves at a smiling Zorome, who salutes back.

Ikuno turns, approaches Futoshi from the side and leans above his shoulder, who offers his ear.

"We've going to tell Hachi about her." Ikuno whispers him. He nods, then does the same as her.

"What the hell Papa was thinking… why sending to battle the young ones?" Futoshi wonders in an angered whisper.

Ikuno tenses up and for a moment she let out a shade of unbridled anger, only to quell it and return to the cart.

"Stay calm." She says, mostly to herself.

They resume the breakfast handout, while a tense atmosphere hangs in the air.

...

* * *

...

After finishing all the trays, Zorome walks towards the Command building, hopeful to catch Hachi before Ichigo starts handing out his tasks. From the Sphere 3 he gets to the connecting bridge, taking notice of a warmer sun now up in the sky, and enters the plain empty main lobby of the pointy structure. Then he stops in front of the elevator door, pondering…

"How do I go about at meeting him…?"

He really didn't think through at all on how to get up to the command station through the elevator, because Hachi literally locked all the doors, trying to prevent people from just roaming through the base… and there's a fingerprint scanner on each the elevator's buttons… He was still shaken of Miku's reaction to his mischief, and thoughts didn't connect properly. Even when distributing breakfast, he had to really force himself to smile at that little girl…

While he was pondering on what to do, he hears a muffled noise towards the iron sculptures surrounding the lobby.

"What…? Someone's crying?"

He gets drawn towards the sobbing, towards the small garden made iron behind glass, approaching a side entrance to the still life display. The sobbing gets louder and louder, until he notices it's…

"Miku…"

Zorome realizes her Pistil was sitting barefoot under the glass, grabbing her legs and crying over her knees sobbing away. His face deforms in pain while tightening his own fists. Her shoes were left abandoned to her side and an empty breakfast tray was lying upside down close to the far wall in front of her, like she had thrown it in anger. He closes in, approaching silently, but she hears his footsteps and lifts her head, to look at him with a scared look.

"N-no!" She covers her tears with both hands.

"Miku, I'm-"

"Please, don't…"

"-I'm sorry about earlier…"

"N-no, please! Don't…!" Miku slides backwards on the floor tiles, hiding herself with one hand and intimating Zorome to stop with the other. "I'm… wrong… inside…"

Zorome stops, but then he resumes his approach.

He just gets closer. He doesn't want to stop.

"Don't come! Go away‼" She cries out while getting on all fours, with red teary eyes, grabs a shoe and throws it towards Zorome, falling just at his feet.

"Please, please‼" She throws another, still landing short. Out of things to throw, she scuttles a bit back on her kneels, arching her back forward, facing away from him, holding her tiny body from breaking apart while shuddering in affliction.

Zorome stops a meter shy from her.

"Please… Don't… I'm…" She weeps weakly.

He then kneels over and embraces her from behind.

"Please, Miku, don't drive me away… I'm just… miserable… without you…"

"Owwwww…" She howls, gripping hard on the arms embracing her.

Then, she turns towards him showing her completely mess of a face and embraces his chest very tightly, while burying her head on his shoulder and letting out everything pent up.

Just. Everything.

"Awaaaaaaaaa‼" She cries out.

He grips her body back while cradling her, and minutes pass while she just cries rivers on his uniform's shoulder. Then Zorome starts to tear up too, and on his own accord slides above Miku's knees and intertwines her in an embrace, placing his own head on her and weeping.

After something like an eternity, both calmed down and found themselves breathing one on the other's neck, pressing their cheeks onto one another.

"Don't let go…" She almost implores.

"D-don't worry… I'm really OK in here…"

"…Pervert…" She smiles.

"…For you only…" He admits.

Miku looks at him indiscernibly in the eyes, lips apart, her breath getting heavier. She then lunges forward, while pulling him at the same time, and stamps a deep kiss on his neck, leaving a red mark.

"Awa-!" Zorome gets his head up and his astonished face fires off in a bright red as soon he realizes of Miku's bold action and covers the kissed spot.

"A-Ah… Hahahaha!" Miku lifts her spirits giggling at his reaction.

"K-K-Kiss!"

"How was that?"

"F-F-Fire!"

"Haha! Yeah, you're on fire!" She continues giggling, so much happy.

The two then lean on the wall beside them, in a more comfortable position, foreheads touching. Zorome's red face dissipates after a while, but he states something before that goes completely off.

"…Please, don't send me away like that… while saying you're wrong inside. We're always bickering… but… I like being with you…"

Zorome stutters but wants to get the point across.

"I-I mean, to me you're not wrong!"

"Thanks, Zorome…"

She puts on a serious look, preparing herself for letting her hangs-up out of herself.

"I should… be less overbearing on everyone around me, mostly on you. Earlier, I even made Goro yell at me…"

"Really? That Goro? Impossible! How did you do it?" Zorome shoots his head up in surprise. As Goro was really the nice and patient type, he never saw him lose his cool.

"I stupidly shamed him for a stupid thing… and he snapped." She leans her head on his left shoulder, trying to find comfort.

"I always thought he's mind was made of steel... Did he yell hard?"

"A little bit, but it shook me so much. Do you… feel the same when I yell hard at you?"

"It's scary… and… I just... well…"

"If I stop, could you listen to me more…? I promise I won't be brash with you anymore…"

"Yes… I swear."

"And… can I kiss you from time to time?"

"B-but! What about…!"

"The Adults aren't here anymore…"

"Ahhhh… yeah… Hachi doesn't count I guess…"

Zorome ponders for a while, then… he takes her by surprise by kissing her back on the cheek.

"Ah!" She blushes in turn but, lets out a serene smile.

"Can I too?" He asks her a bit unsure.

"Y-Yes, b-but please, not in front of others… it's a bit…"

"I know… Promise."

She leans on him once more, kissing him back.

"It's- it's only because of you that I kept going on." Zorome lets her know.

"Same."

They hug deeper and close their eyes, crystallizing that moment in pure bliss.

...

* * *

...

In the long ring corridor next the FranXX garages, I look at the beautiful visage in front of me.

Six handsome Parasites, in bright yellow-orange long dresses and boots, black anti-dust masks and wearing orange netted skullcaps, standing before me in a line, were grabbing onto vacuum brooms like soldiers of a bygone era.

Chin up, I start my speech.

"Soldiers, we're going to war."

"Cut the crap, Goro!" Yells 376 visibly embarrassed by the situation.

"A war against dirt and acaruses. But guess what, do you think we can take on the entire Bird's Nest alone? I say that we need allies!"

I get close to a nearby part of the wall and point towards a panel door embedded in it, flush and almost unnoticeable if you don't look purposely. Then, beside it, there's a squared button also flush to the wall the same way the panel is.

"You press this button and…"

The panel comes slowly, open revealing an LCD screen, where a bunch of UI buttons are floating onscreen.

"Now you guys, come over here."

The squad approaches to the control interface, eyes taken.

"To summon our allies, press this green interface button."

I press it, and a hole in the wall at pavement level opens and six small, round robots on little wheels shoot out out of the hole in a congo line, fast like hell, all screeching and sliding while turning in complex but controlled patterns.

"WHA-!" The volunteers recoil while the robots start twirling around me, then stopping themselves in front of each one of them.

"Nice, huh? Those are your personal 'Cleaning Helper' drones! They are wirelessly connected to the brooms you're holding, and they use steam and vacuum to brush everything up!"

"Whoa! That's like REALLY COOL!" A volunteer Pistil says aloud, giving voice to the o-shaped mouths of her comrades.

"They stay in front of you, cleaning everything automatically as you move on, if you keep the broom in front of you- you'll just have to turn it on to pick up the residuals that they sometimes leave."

In fact, a volunteer moves forward, tilting sideways back and forth the vacuum broom in front of him, and the robot automatically follows his movements twirling rapidly in circles, steaming all over the dusted steel floor, cleaning it like a mirror.

"Really? That's a timesaver." 376 looks really impressed.

"Sometimes they will have to recharge with Magma or water, so they will return to the dispenser by themselves. If you need, you can dismiss them with this red button on every panel like this one. If you pay attention, you can spot one easily."

He gestures the hallway, that imperceptibly curves right according to the building's shape.

"You can cover the entire ring in less than two hours if you divide in two groups each direction. It's still a slog, but not nearly as much as cleaning by hand with a bucket. These little things are really cool!"

"Did you try them before?"

"No… In fact, I literally ignored cleaning most of the base until we found how to operate them… literally yesterday."

"Eeeeh! Really!" Their faces are painted with wonder and anticipation.

"Yeah. And remember that the drones can climb stairs with small magma propulsors. So, don't sweat it if they start flying about."

"What the…" Now with less anticipation.

"Well… I think you know everything. Now I must leave, Ichigo is waiting for me."

"Won't you stay with us?"

"N-no, sorry, actually I don't know about them any more than you guys do… so I'll leave you to the discovery! Clean just the parts accessible, don't bother with side corridors or unused rooms."

The newborn cleaning team looks at me, lost, as I salute them and get out of the corridor.

"Good work! See you at dinner… Ah! And watch out for your ankles!"

With the door closing behind me, I'm like: 'No way in hell I'm doing that again!'

I quickly get through the lobby of Sphere 2, reach to Sphere 3 from an access bridge, then get into the ring again, to reach the HQ access through another bridge lit by strong daylight. The Parasites dormitories are physically separated from everything, like the Adults won't even want to breathe the same air as us… wonder why it's always been like that.

I get into the lobby's elevator and press the button for floor 9, that scans my finger and lits up green. I feel a quick downward acceleration as the elevator moves silently towards my destination. A sudden deceleration followed by a -ping!- anticipates the opening of the steel doors, where a blinding white visage meets me: the HQ hospital.

The floor made of white tiles, white steel walls with orange details, seats and a big reception composed the wide open-space atrium and waiting area. Scattered all around lie hospital trolleys, wheel chairs and IV stands, abandoned there from since the day of the battle. Empty IV bags, full sacks of trash and coagulated blood-stained bandages are amassed in a corner, waiting to be transported out by Futoshi and Ikuno. A very clear smell of disinfectant gets to me and my nose protests, making me sneeze.

Looking up, the ceiling is carved out in a cone-shaped geometry that pierces eight floors above the lobby, with circular terraces encompassing the sides of the inverted solid, interspersed by glass elevators embedded on the slanted sides. Leaned on the railing some floors up above, some members of the medical team are in pause, donned in white medical uniforms. I wave towards them, and they respond waving with their gloves still on.

Moving though the waiting area, I spot Ichigo, sitting slanted, legs crossed, on a waiting chair in between the general mess, fiddling with her big tablet…

"Hey Ichigo, here I am!"

"Oh!" She closes the screen and turns on the seat towards me, smiling. "Hi Goro! How was the training?"

"They understood... sort of" I confess to her, cringing a bit.

"Hahh… it's ok, we're figuring out stuff as we go here…"

"Yeah, I'm so glad everything around Bird's Nest is automated at that extent, though."

"Sure, I wonder how this hospital would even work at all..."

Ichigo is right, we're so incredibly ignorant of everything. Just even the basic of things require at least knowing what machine to use, how to operate it and maintain it while avoiding breaking it. And nothing comes from thin air, so we've got to stay on top of everything logistically speaking too…

"Without your managing? Nothing would work, trust me."

"Nah, Hachi teaches me and gives me books and manuals to study from, I'm just downstream of it." She waves and gets up, going straight for the elevators, and I follow suit.

"So… are they finally awake?"

"Mmh, yes. One of the medical team called me yesterday and reported that they regained consciousness an hour apart from one other."

"Hah! Good news!"

"I wouldn't cheer for now."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

She presses the call button and the glass elevator opens, revealing grey-decorated tiles with plant motifs and a bronze-like shining button stand on which the floor list can be found. Ichigo presses the button of the second floor, labelled 'Wards Department #1'. The elevator starts, and we get elevated through the air, climbing the walls receding inwards.

"This place looks really cool."

"It was made for us Parasites, it's actually a military facility."

"Now it sounds cool, also."

"Hmpf…" She giggles a little.

I managed to make her laugh, finally. Must be something serious about the two of them, I can tell very well when she's downcast and doesn't want to show it. I really hope that they are well.

The elevator stops and the side doors open, leading both sides to the terrace of the second floor. We get out and we see long corridors starting from the terrace leading to the various wards, separated by security solid-projection doors. A tall, squared-faced, gray-colored eyes, black short side-parted haired Parasite in full medical uniform with brown shoes, white pants and a shirt with turquoise upper body, arms and gloves comes out of one of the projected doors, passing through it like it was never there.

"Those doors, damn." I whisper.

"Ah, hello Ichigo, Goro!" He greets us. We stop in front of him.

"We have news. They're… awake." He confirms what Ichigo heard from his work partners… a bit dubious.

"Are you a hundred percent sure?"

"Yeah, as far as machines can tell. Follow me."

He passes through the same door he came out from, and Ichigo follows through, just walking straight into it without even blinking. I just hesitate from a moment, then I cross the projection while closing my eyes. I just can't stand those doors! Those irk me a ton!

The lead of the medical team walks in long strides along the corridor, then turning right into another, blocked with a solid metal and glass door labelled "Intensive Care Unit". He stops at a door and pulls it open, with and me and Ichigo helping to keep it open while he passes. Ichigo then steps in and I just slip through.

A long corridor spans in front of us. The walls to the left and the right are provided with glass window panes from about a meter from the floor, giving us vision to the adjacent rooms: some medical team members are roaming inside, with their noses pointed on their digital tablets, beside stange metal structures lined up connected with metal tubes to outlets in the wall… looking almost like… sarcophaguses.

"Code 016 is fully awake and has been transferred in the normal bedrooms just deep in this corridor, but code 002 is still in intensive care. We're really unsure if just disconnecting her or leaving her there… the health reports are confusing, and we can't find anything about it in the procedures."

What?

He enters the room on the left through a sliding glass door and asks one of the present team members.

"Do you happen to have 016 and 002's reports?"

"Yeah, I left it there." His mate goes over to what looks like to be a control station where a pile of bundled papers lies on it. He shuffles the bundle and extracts two paper bundles and hands them over. "Thanks." He then turns toward us. He opens the first bundle and starts explaining pointing at a black and white figure in the paper.

"According to here… and here, 016 got a head concussion probably from the ejection and passed out for a while. No internal bleeding, showing only a cerebral edema that subsided after a short while."

Damn, he sounds like a pro.

"Then, he regained consciousness. He began talking, eating, even started walking without issue. He looked like he could jump into a FranXX any moment."

"Ah! Good!" Ichigo radiates happiness, as I do too. Our best friend Hiro is with us still alive, thanks to some miracle. But then, the medic's expression worsened.

"We don't know what 002 has. According to the medical equipment, she's… not in danger of life." He approaches one of the sarcophaguses and intimates with a gesture to close in.

From a thick glass window at the top of the apparatus, I can look inside. There, was lying 002 in an hospital gown, with several EVs in her arm. I can gather that from her long, pink hair and her… chipped horns? But her eyes… I just… is she really still alive…?

Those are the eyes of a dead person.

Ichigo brings both hands on her mouth and looks terribly aghast.

"Blood values are part nominal and part abnormal, but don't explain the symptoms. The CT scan shows no trauma, but the EEG is… just…"

"Wait a moment. What's a EEG?"

"Electroencephalography"

"Electo-cepha-what?" Are you fucking kidding me?

He sighs then explains.

"I took 3 days to learn that word, ok? Anyways, it's a method to measure the brain's activity. Her readings are almost flat."

"What…?"

"She should have died by now. The brain controls lots of living functions of the body, like the heartbeat and respiration. Once the brain's fried, you're by extension dead. But… somehow, she can live barely on. The fact is that she's just nonresponsive."

"So, if I just wave in the eyes, she won't see me?" Ichigo asks.

"I don't know… she just stays there, completely still. She barely reacts to light or pain stimuli, too."

That's a fate worse than death.

"She's recuperating although. Values are slowly and steadily increasing. I say we must wait: even the computers are confused and refuse dismissal."

"Will she recuperate?"

"I hope." The Parasite doctor looks at us downcast. "Do... you want to meet your friend?"

"Yes, please." Ichigo says. "We'd like to give him a visit. We have some questions for him too."

"Sure, just don't stress him too much." He then approaches the glass sliding door.

I look at 002 and her dead eyes.

I just want to wish you well.

Please return to us sooner rather than later…

…Because I know what to expect in the next room.

We get into the corridor again and we reach towards the end of it, where we find some regular doors lined up on the wall. The black-haired doctor stops at a door on the right and knocks. No response. After a while, he sighs and just opens it.

"016, you have visitors."

We approach and take a peek inside: in partial light, a small, bright window illuminates the dust hanging in the air, and the dark silhouette of an occupied bed is outlined by the solar rays. Hiro is looking out the window, under the blankets, sitting upright helped by two pillows stacked one on top of the other, in silence.

"Hiro!" Ichigo shouts.

He then slowly turns.

What I see are eyes.

Another kind.

Of dead eyes.

...

* * *

 **Our life beyond - END**

* * *

...


	8. Chapter 8 :: Strain

…

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

 **Strain**

* * *

…

Me and Ichigo are beside Hiro's hospital bed, sitting on wooden chairs just brought for us, and an absent silence pervades the dusty air of the empty, aseptic room. We are both trying to carve from his face a semblance of hint of what he's thinking, if he's thinking anything at all. Since we sat in front of him, he's been staring the sunlight coming from the window right of him, ignoring us for quite a while, hand joined and sit upright, back abandoned on a stack of white pillows. If the doctor didn't tell us he was fine health-wise, we would assume he was in the same state of 02.

"The doctor says she will awake eventually." Ichigo says to him, trying to get through him.

His gaze shifts to the blanket over his lap, gaining some semblance of awareness, then lips part and we hang on them for a reply, but no sound comes out.

"Really?"

"Yes. Did you not ask him about her?"

Hiro then lifts his head and looks at us, and in his eyes a light veil of relief.

"I... When I came to myself, I was in the… thing beside the wall. The doctor took me out and made me some checks, and I saw 02 in that state… By the way, who is he?"

"A Parasite like us." Ichigo informs him.

"What…? B…but, we're… at Bird's Nest, right?" Hiro's eyes begin to dance between us, with a face like he's convinced of being in a dream.

"Yes. It's a bit complicated to explain… let's get to one thing at a time for now." I say gesturing my palms pressing down, trying to actively control the flow of the conversation. I see Ichigo glancing at me with my eye's tail… I just don't want to overload his head before we get to hear his story. According to what the doctor said, he's still a bit shaken and his head is still weak, so…"

"Hiro, what happened inside of Star Entity?" Ichigo asked Hiro. Maybe talking about the weather was more appropriate…?

Hiro focuses on her, albeit still in a daze, and adjusts himself better against the pillows.

"I… During the operation we managed to reach the door… Then something paralyzed Strelitzia. It was the Princess. She attacked us and took control of Strelitzia."

"Yes, we heard that, from 02 and Dr. FranXX."

"Really? Was she ok?" He looked at Ichigo relieved.

"She was fine, her… constitution saved her." Ichigo explains to him. "She was messy, but she could hold herself together."

"I'm glad…" I can see Hiro recuperate part of his spirit. "She was grabbed and hurled from the cockpit! It was horrible!" Says in pain.

"…Then? What happened?" I press on.

"The Princess immobilized me in the Stamen seat and brought me inside the weapon. Then… she used me to pilot it… I had no chance of fighting back" Hiro shuddered a bit. I did with him.

"How was she like?" I ask him, trying to picture the 'Princess' or whatever that Klaxxosaur was. Hiro then pinched his nose trying to remember.

"Small stature… blue skin, two light blue horns with white long hair… very similar to a human girl."

Whoa, whoa, hang on!

"…a Klaxxosaur the shape of a girl?" Ichigo was completely unable to believe him.

"S-She was as tall as me. But had a six-tail that used like tentacles."

Ah, well, that's the catch. The height… no, I meant- the tail!

"Anyways… I could sense there was… someone high in the sky and the Princess fired some kind of… laser from Star Entity at it, but then she was hit by something, I think, and Star Entity stopped. The Princess was incapacitated by some… violet web."

That's when the VIRM's violet cocoon surrounded Start Entity and started the countdown to destruction.

"So… I saw her in pain, then I decided to connect directly to her to try and help her resist."

"You connected to the Klaxxosaur Princess?" Ichigo asks widening her eyes sliding at the edge of the seat. "Like, connected with her to… what? What was the Host? Wasn't Star Entity down?"

"I-I think the Host was her." I look at Hiro like he's saying some bullshit, which I clearly think he's saying.

"I did the same with 02 at the attack of the Gran Crevasse to recover her… It's like… you have only to focus on the… horns. Or… tail." He tries to explain, visibly blushing.

I reflexively grab my chin with the right hand. Then he really connected to directly to her? Oh, boy.

Usually, when we Parasites connect to a FranXX, the latter acts as a 'Host', mediating the connection between Pistil and Stamen and distributing sensory and physical feedback. In this case, I can't imagine what would happen if one acted as 'Host' and the other as 'Parasite'. But I guess that Klaxxosaurs are… no wait, FranXX are really Klaxxosaurs! Well, that explains all this 'connection without host' stuff, doesn't it? The Princess was a Klaxxosaur and can be a Host, and… no, there's still something's amiss. The Host is something you control…

"After that, I passed out… and then I saw 02… in a dream. A second later I awoke and, somehow, she was already at the Pistil position… already piloting together. I could _feel_ her being connected. She even called me Darling!"

"And the Princess?" Ichigo asked.

"The Princess disappeared…" He shrugged. "Then I sensed another presence in the sky, and I fired the same laser as the Princess… And the presence disappeared."

That was the GRB fired from Star Entity… I should shut my mouth about what happened afterwards in the battlefield. That really couldn't be helped, if he wouldn't have fired the laser, we wouldn't be here talking because VIRM would have mauled us to death.

" _You_ fired the laser…" Ichigo ponders, and I can sense her mixed emotions.

I look her in the eyes. He just woke up from his deathbed: you should really stop on your tracks.

Ichigo locks into my eyes for a brief moment, then drops her gaze to the ground while sealing her mouth. Yeah… why wouldn't you say to him 'You destroyed half of the battlefield, friendly forces included'? Don't you even approach the subject, Ichigo, one catatonic friend is enough.

"Yes… after that, I called out to 02, and… she didn't respond." His expression darkens. "Then, I got out of my seat and went to check on her… she was… unresponsive. She… was a-already… like that." His voice starts to crumble.

No way. Could it be…

…It's like Ikuno's case of permanent injury?

I must tell the doctor about this, stat.

"I dismounted and leaned on her… and… I saw the ejection module's canopy activating on its own. I felt a very sharp pain in the back of my head, then all went black..."

He was in verge of tears. Actually, tears start to stream on his cheeks… I console my best friend by getting up and arching my right arm on his shuddering shoulders, with him sobbing in silence between his own hands. Ichigo gets up and reaches the other side of the bed to do the same with his slouched back, while caressing his sides.

The canopy must have collided with his head, and then the ejection module must have slipped out of Star Entity... somehow.

Eventually Hiro stops crying, relieved from his load on his chest. I level my head with his and give him a friendly smile. "Anyways, did you have breakfast yet?" I divert his attention to a happier subject.

He smiles back and places his hand on my back, reaching from below my armpit. "No… I just woke up."

"Want something to eat?"

"Yes, please… I'm a bit starving."

"I'll ask if there's a breakfast tray somewhere around here." I ruffle his hair and start walking towards the door, accompanied by a perfect excuse to get outside of the room and talk to the doctor.

...

* * *

...

After the sound of the elevator closing, Zorome and Miku jolt up from their hiding, looking over the glass of the artificial tree garden over to the elevator

"Was that Goro?" Zorome asks curious.

"Y…Yes. I guess he just went upstairs, to the hospital... Ouch!" Miku responds in a pinch.

"What was that?" He turns to a Miku straightening her back with both hands.

"For how much time we were like that? Felt like forever!" Miku asks Zorome, while stretching and bending her sore back.

"Yeah! I'm surprised Ichigo didn't send any requests yet! Did she ever do the roundup with Kokoro?" Some strange occurrence that was, Zorome was convinced that by now he would have tons of work to do. "Well, whatever. I'm gonna go and find Hachi then. I wanna ask some things."

"Ha! I'll accompany you… I'll ensure you won't make a fuss!" Miku grabs him by his wrinkled collar, straightening it.

"Really…?" Zorome says while Miku nags him.

"…I'm not in the mood for work, ok?" She brazenly confesses.

"Well… Ok!" Zorome felt relieved at the thought that Miku would sacrifice her own work time to help him. "Actually… how do you go to the command station?" He asks wondering.

Miku shudders to his Stamen's naivety.

"Zorome! Don't you tell me you were going there without knowing how!" Miku frowns while locking her hand onto her sides and leaning over him, her twintails dancing. "How helpless can you be!" She then shoots her hand in her skirt's pocket and gets out her Communicator.

"Function: call Hachi!" She shouts at it. -Blip- the device turns on and lights up its orange holographic display, visualizing an image of Hachi over a "Calling…" green caption.

"Call outgoing to: Commander Hachi." A robotic female voice confirms the accepted vocal command.

"You have his number! How!" Zorome protests.

"Yeah, weren't you at th-… ah, no… you weren't… Ah… Hehehe!" She giggles quite embarrassedly. "Whoops, I was supposed to give it to you… I forgot!"

"Ahhh! That's why everyone didn't bat an eye earlier." Zorome connects the fact that no one asked him how to reach the Command Station when he announced it in the rec room: it was because it was obvious to them.

"Yes?" A very loud, mature voice comes out from the handheld.

"Uwa!" Miku recoils and flips her Communicator high in the air in the jumpscare, rotating unnaturally fast it's weightless holographic screen, and Zorome jumps to catch it in mid-air with quite the athleticism.

"Code 390? What's happening?" Hachi's emotionless voice resounds from the loud speaker, and a 'Voice only' red message hangs on the screen. Zorome recovers from the jump, then dials down the volume of the call, and speaks to the device back.

"UUmmm, h-hello? I'm actually code 666… I had 390 help to call you, sir."

A once scared as hell Miku sighs in relief as Zorome recovers her precious gadget from a potentially destructive flip.

"Oh, good morning. What do you need?" Hachi asks with his usual no-nonsense attitude.

"Aaaah… I'd… like to talk… I mean… ask!... about…" Zorome breathes deeply to calm down, obviously being very nervous. "I would ask you, sir, if I could come over in the command station, because I would like to ask something."

"Mh…. Is it an emergency?" Hachi asks.

"N-no, I mean… It's not, but it's… personal. Could you sir, spare… some time?" Zorome says with a scared voice, unsure of Hachi's response.

"Mh. Sure, no problem." The officer responds in his characteristic monotone, but without hesitation. "If you want, just get into the elevator, I'll call it over. Is 390 coming over as well?"

"Y-yes sir."

"Please do."

"T-Thank you sir! Be right there!" Zorome ends the call, grinning with a smile. He then hands the device over to Miku.

"Thanks." She says, while taking it off his hands. "Shall we go?"

"Yessir!" Says Zorome all jolly. He then marches in good spirits towards the elevator, whistling in high spirits and flinging his arms about. Miku looks at him half-ironic and half-amused when he does a spin while walking, then decides to follow his partner to the entrance of where they would ascend the command building, towards its utmost top.

"Such a kid…" She tenderly complains.

The elevator opens right before Miku and Zorome reach its entrance, inviting them in. So, they take the hint and get right into it without hesitation- then the doors closing right behind them, startling them both.

"Whoa!" Zorome reacts, with Miku on his side none the wiser.

The button panel colors flashes all green, then unpowers, only the top button staying lit, labelled 'Command Station'. So, the cabin starts to move upwards, accelerating and rising the 'Current floor' orange vertival bar to the right of it.

"Hehe…!" Miku giggles beside Zorome. "Well, it's the first time for me too!"

She didn't notice until too late, but the hand of Zorome was closing on hers, making her jolt in surprise.

"Zoro…" She winds up the scolding, only to stop in her tracks after turning towards him. Zorome's face was directed at the floor, visibly scared and darting looks at her.

"What… where went the bold Zorome I knew?" She points out at him,

He shamefully looks away.

"Ah…No I meant… Sorry… I didn't mean it." Miku backpedals immediately at his reaction, waving her hands worriedly, having promised to not step on him like that again.

Zorome takes a breath. "It was way easier when we piloted our FranXX." Zorome wonders back to those times. "Now don't know how to… talk to him. Will he… shame me…? I'm…"

At those times, he would just sit down in the briefing room and behave all fired up and arrogant, all sure of himself about his piloting skills. Always pushing himself, his FranXX's envelope and the one of his partner's, wanting to impress the Adults… now, what face will he wear when meeting him, now that he's useless all the time?

"…He's an Adult, right?" He tells Miku. "To them, we are…" He hangs his words on his lips, unable to take them out.

That strange day, lost in the City below Mistilteinn, the Adult granny told him.

"We were… their hope and salvation." He finally let his words fall to the ground.

Miku shoots up her eyebrows and freezes in her spot.

"Who told you…?"

"An Adult."

"W-What! When!"

"Remember when got lost in the City?"

Miku gets surprised and covers her mouth, unstable on her feet. Her gaze bounces around left and right the elevator, trying to process the revelation.

"I see. But… I think Hachi is different from every Adult. Did he ever shout at us, or disrespected us? Never! Even when we made mistakes, he always remained… Hachi." She inserts her hand in his, trying to make amends.

"Nana sure did!" He regains the light in his eyes while cradling her hand with his own. "But even for her, it was different. I… felt I needed her regardless." Melancholia takes over him.

"Heh… I'm… helpless, right?" He says, forlorn, to her.

"It's ok, I sometimes feel the same." She then presses herself onto him, hands still joined, and places her head against his shoulder. He opens his mouth in surprise, then smiles full teeth, in joy, while she does the same.

A moment, then both eyes lock onto each other, guided by emotions they didn't ever feel before. Miku and Zorome keep the gazes interlocked, trying to decipher their own instincts, but in vain, as they gravitate toward each other both attracted by an invisible force. That motion was their everything in that moment, as they notice each other's lips in an inescapable attraction.

-Bing!-

The elevator doors open, and they turn, finding a serious as ever and unmovable, towering Hachi looming over them, right beside the door jamb, having called the elevator.

The two Parasites jerk in pure fear and detach immediately from their intimacy, springing apart one beside the other. Going instantly at attention, both stares firmly planted on the steel tiled floor of the elevator, Miku sweating all over and Zorome trembling like crazy.

That was the one thing that was not allowed.

Something.

Absolutely.

Not.

Allowed.

Hachi stares at them.

"Rest." He orders implacable.

As like both were like tied to a pole from behind, at the command they reflexively slump their backs returning to a more comfortable posture, although still tense, a hole inside each one's chest.

Hachi blinks a few times, then…

"Please come in."

They slowly come out of the elevator, stopping just a foot outside from the door frame, like stepping at centimetres from a gigantic, endless chasm.

"Did something happen?" Hachi asks to the two strangely behaving kids.

"…" Both freeze in their respective positions, still in complete disarray.

"…Hello?"

"I-I-I'm sorryyy! P-Please…" Miku almost in tears begs him with a sliver of voice.

"About what?" He calmly questions her a bit taken aback. "Didn't you come to ask me something?" He asks Zorome, who's still under heavy breathing.

Zorome, convinced that it was impossible that he wouldn't have seen that, diverts the conversation far from that point regardless. So, he courageously lifts his head and declares his intentions-

"It was!... About Nana!" He almost shouts in his face, still tense like a chord.

Hachi recoils, still emotionless. "Oh. I… didn't expect that."

"Yes? Someone called me?" A thin woman in a dark gray officer uniform with a long gown, red-brownish short bobbed hair, slanted eyes and an assuring smile, comes over beside Hachi, who turns to greet her.

"No. Please, return to your post." He sharply orders her.

The woman freezes in the spot. Then, maintaining her smile, she bows, turns her back and returns from where she came, in silence. Hachi observes her walking away, then closes his eyes and sighs.

'Greet' was an overstatement, noted to himself Zorome, as he clearly understands that Hachi wasn't angry about the scene of him and Miku… close to each other in the elevator. Then, he relaxes and starts looking around.

Behind Hachi there's an oval room, full of widescreen terminals on desks full of technological stuff like headsets and tablets, arranged in a semicircle around a gigantic tactical display, in the usual black screen and bright orange fonts. White roller chairs are scattered around, some empty, some other carrying electronical equipment. On the floor could be seen stacks of trays like the ones that their companions where distributing at meal time.

"Where… is she? Is she ok…?" Miku presses on.

Hachi examines her intentions, then nods.

"Come with me." He guides himself among the messy terminal desks. Zorome and Miku follow him from behind, reaching the other side of the room, where a smaller interface panel was embedded to the wall. He passes a finger on the side of the panel, and a tactical screen comes online. The Parasites, some meters behind him, fiddle with the gadgets are on the tables, still a bit unsure where to position themselves around all that mess of a room.

"Function: search operator. Restriction: Cerasus. Code: 007." He recites the voice commands and the screen shows a slowly filling loading bar, that stops halfway prompting a message onscreen.

"Search completed. Found: -one- result." Speaks back the screen, in a virtual male voice.

"Function: Show results onscreen, video feed."

The screen flickers, then goes black. A four squared meters room comes slowly visible as the camera adjusts its exposure, containing a small bed, a WC and some food trays lying on the floor, abandoned. A silhouette could be seen sitting slouched against the wall… It was Nana. Totally immobile, arms bandaging her belly, nonresponsive.

"Nana!" Zorome exclaims, widening his eyes. "Is she even fine?"

"Yes…"

"Could we speak to her?" Miku asks.

"There's no intercom. That's actually a cell room." Hachi informs them professionally.

"W-WHY! Cell room?" Miku blurts out, in incredulity.

Hachi turns to them and starts explaining. "Just before the Gran Crevasse assault, she had her emotional block busted. So Papa ordered Protocol 84 to be applied on her."

"What was… that Protocol?"

"The same that each one of the normal Parasites undergoes, the emotional block procedure."

"NO!" Zorome yells in despair, afraid of Nana not being herself anymore.

"Don't agitate, she didn't. Everything fell apart before that."

Both the Parasites calm themselves, as Hachi darts his gaze between them, pondering. "Did you want to see her in person?" He presses them.

"I… Why is she there and not here? Where is she, sir?" Zorome asks politely.

"She's in a detention centre just a hundred kilometers north from here."

"Why she's still there!" Miku gets loud on her own.

"She refuses to go out."

"Why‼" Miku shows herself extremely nervous.

"390, relax." Hachi says tranquil to Miku, who lightly jolts upwards in shame.

"Why…? Why didn't you take her back!" Zorome asks him, dropping the formal etiquette.

"I've been checking up on her on a regular basis."

"Doesn't she want to return…?" Miku asks.

"Indeed, I… think need your help." Hachi admits with a very rare frown.

"Since you're already here and are preoccupied for her, I think you're up for the task. I'm actually unable to bring her back… she's emotionally unstable. If you could come with me, she might listen to you." He admits his worries to the two young ones.

Zorome and Miku widen their eyes and exchange glances made of pure surprise. A sense of purpose pervaded them: at last, they were needed.

"Just say the word Hachi. We're not leaving Nana behind!" A decisive Zorome closes his fists hard, while Miku nods convinced.

"We're in!" She announces.

"Nice. Present yourself in front of the east exit of Bird's Nest by 14:00, extraction by air transport. Don't forget to warn 015 of your absence."

"Roger!" They utter both in unison, fists in the air.

...

* * *

...

"Hey…"

I approach to the doctor while he's sitting in front of the intensive care ward's control station, inspecting some reports with big pictures of white images of human head sections on transparent black sheets, reclined on a chair and leaning his feet on the desk.

"Hey, man." The dark-haired pretend-doctor salutes back, still looking at the papers. "Is our Hiro still moping?" He slyly asks.

"He snapped out of it, I think. Are there any breakfast trays left?"

"Sure, take them, in that cupboard." Still inspecting the photos, he points blindly behind him where a steel cabinet was hanging to the wall above the steel sarcophagi. I move towards it and open the steel doors, to reveal quite the stock of ready-to-eat supplies.

"Whoa, that's quite the stuff you have here."

"Yeah, we have to take strict turns in monitoring the place, so hunger and food provision tends to be a problem." He casually says while turns the page.

I take one tray out, and close back the cabinet. Looking right of it, I still see 02 lying in the intensive care unit, still lips slightly apart and nonresponsive eyes. Then I close in to the Parasite doctor to inform him about my recent musings.

"You know, something came up when talking to him." I start the conversation. He stops in his tracks and turns to me.

"Like…?"

"You know one of my teammates, Ikuno?"

"Mmmm, no?"

"A white haired girl… Maybe she came over for a check-up."

"Uhmmm… I would be notified. No one with white hair came up here recently."

"Heh, I guessed right then. Anyways, she strained her FranXX in combat and her hair decolored."

"Sure, that's called Passive Feedback."

"Ah… that's what its called. No one ever mentioned it to me."

"Mh. Yeah, it's not a thing to be told if you're a Parasite. I'm a bit old, so I got acquainted with it."

"But your hair is fine…"

"It's not just your hair, it's something that depends on you on a personal level."

"Personal?" Like personal… what?

"Yeah, for example, to me happened that I can't move my leg."

"What!? Do you think I'm blind? You can walk!"

"Maybe…" He gets up his right leg and pulls up his pantaloon. He…

"Oh my... I'm sorry."

He shows me his prosthetic leg. Robotic prosthetic leg, to be precise: a solid-looking black carbon structure resembling a leg with synthetic muscles, tendons and bones, painted with hexagonal patterns.

"Cellular degradation is totally a pain. Don't sweat it, it's like having a real one that's a thousand times better."

"Then… could it be that 02… Ehm…"

"Yes…?" He compels me intrigued, while resting his leg down.

"Since she fired th-" I realize right there the mistake, reflexively bringing my hand to my mouth, hard.

Oh no, no, no, no! DAMN! SHE FIRED THE FRICKING LASER THAT KILLED EVERYONE! How the hell can I tell him that? I can't! How would he react knowing that? Would he harm 02?

"She was the Pistil in Star Entity that fired the Gamma Ray Burst, wasn't she? And Hiro was the Stamen, right?" He completes my phrase without even breaking a sweat or a breath.

Oh no, I fucked up. Royally. Again.

"If it's like that… then I owe my life to them."

"…Really?" I drop my surprise to bring up another one.

"Yeah. Mine and my Pistil's. If she wouldn't have done that, we would have been killed by a VIRM."

I let that sink in for a moment… I thought he would react badly.

"In fact… you did think it was Passive Feedback, didn't you? Well, I anticipated you, and discovered that it was not the cause."

Whoa, fast!

"Are you sure?"

"She doesn't have the signs of cellular degradation AT ALL. She's like the Nines, isn't she?"

"Oh."

"Well, that was that. No problem at all~" He turns away his roller chair, grabbing once again the bundle of papers he was studying and diving himself into them again.

I'm so downcast I could slump on the floor.

"Could you please not mention this to Hiro?"

"Sure, I don't want his head to burst… with gamma rays."

I instantly regain my good spirits at his pun. "Hahahah! Good one!"

"No biggie~"

"What's your code, by the way? We never exchanged ours." I asked him, curious.

He turns right again to me, serious.

"Oh, I didn't? I'm code 013."

Oh damn! He has a code more advanced than Ichigo!

"I'm code 056, nice to meet you."

"Wait… you're also Goro, are you? Go-Ro? That's clever! What I would be then?"

That's something Hiro would do in the past. We all bear the nickname he gave us when we were little… Let's see if I can do the same… Grabbing my chin and concentrating on the Onyomi and Kunyomi readings of his code… Hiza? No, that sucks. How about… Onyomi and English?

Hisui.

Nice! That's kinda appropriate.

"Hisui."

"Hah! What? Hisui…?"

"Yeah, like _ishi,_ but not quite like one!"

"Hah! Hahahahaha! You scoundrel!" He chuckles away, while he salutes me turning to his papers.

I wave back to return to Hiro's room, having obtained the food pack.

About when I walk in the central corridor, he shouts at me from behind.

"Actually, I kinda like it! Approved!"

Hah, you're the scoundrel, Hisui, Auspicious Sun.

...

* * *

...

Hiro adjusts himself again on the bed, having finished his breakfast. He starts to be a bit distant, fiddling with his thumbs.

"I actually can't wrap around my head the fact that everyone…"

Yeah. Ichigo told him what happened around here while I was outside, just a little though.

"We're managing to scrape through. We wish everyone would help, but…" Ichigo refers to the widespread apathy that hit our comrades, moping and hiding away all day.

"Papa and the Adults…" He thinks deeply shaking his head in disappoint.

"I… actually saw more things when I connected to the Princess." He confesses. "I got visions that she was a Klaxxo-sapient… it was a civilization that lived on earth before humanity, right just before the... dinosaur extinction…?"

A… full blown civilization? Oh my. This really pulls me in. Were there any more Klaxxo like her, human-like? No one ever bothered telling us the truth, so I'm more than ready to take it in, anywhere and everywhere.

"We heard the Princess talk about their 'bond' but… sixty million years?" I ask him, wanting for more. "How much further did you see?" I try to compel him, while feeling a bit agitated.

"The Klaxxo-sapiens were a… civilization… far advanced than ours. At some point, they were attacked by… VIRM." Hiro pushes himself to recollect the details.

I need to be more careful about what I ask, I don't want to tire him before he tires _me_. But I also want to know… Stop a second. What did I just hear? Did he say Papa was there, sixty million years ago?

"To survive the war, they turned themselves into weapons, the Klaxxosaurs. After repelling Papa, they went inside the core of the planet…. The destruction that VIRM caused made earth inhabitable… for many years." Hiro reveals us.

"What about the meteor that extinguished the dinosaurs that we were taught about?" Ichigo tries to connect the dots that I'm too aghast to even see.

"That was part of the war. VIRM just… diverted the path of a meteor and hurled it towards the Earth to end all life on the planet. They couldn't destroy the Klaxxo-sapiens, so they resorted to the extreme solution."

I jump above my seat and look at him. No way. No way in hell. I wasn't ready for this. Not in a million years.

I just look at him while my breath goes wild, thinking how much of a bind we were. What the hell the Adults were thinking? Did they know all along? Were they even aware of who they were?

"They were using Humanity to destroy the Klaxxo, going as far as destroying the planet. That I gathered from the Princess when I connected to her, so I couldn't just stay there and watch." Hiro completes his report.

All our lives to… do what? Do their bidding then die quietly?

I just lift my hands up on my mouth, gasping for air while waves of sickness are passing through me. Instead ending up stressing him, I am at the verge of…

"Papa… You…"

You are the worst of the worst. You just deserve to die immersed in the curses that you brought upon us. Not only you fooled me, my dear friends, all our comrades that me and Ichigo dug up from Gran Crevasse, all of the fallen in the battle of Gran Crevasse, all of the others that remained helpless on the battlefield to die a painful death to radiation, all of the Parasites that sacrificed their lives and emotions to serve your DAMN WORD in all those decades, all of the culled Children from the Garden from the time where your stupid rules imposed kids like us to be spirited away, and never be seen again…! This…

THIS IS THE DROP. THAT SPILLED THE CUP.

IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT.

 **I HATE YOU SO MUCH.**

"Goro! Please, return in yourself!" I feel my left arm being shaken and a distant voice calling for me. Recognizing that of Ichigo, I recollect myself to find her standing beside me, shaking me by my uniform, scared as hell. My heart is beating like crazy, my body feels heated and tensed up, my teeth grinding. What happened? Hiro also looks at me scared. Why…? Did I…? I just try to recollect what was I doing…

Did I just have a fit of rage in front of them? That's…

"Goro… You are bleeding…" Ichigo makes me notice my hands… My nostrils were picking up the iron-like scent of my own blood… Did I just drive my fingernails into the palms of my hands?

"Goro…?" Hiro is definitely worried about me, mouth open wide.

"S-Sorry…" I feebly say. What happened to me? I feel so lightheaded I could…

I feel myself slumping on the chair, with Ichigo trying to support me falling down. Right now, my legs aren't there, I can't feel them. My mind feels so light! It's like I'm in a dream, everything around me blurry and swirling slowly. Ichigo worriedly fixates me, trying to find what happened with me. She's so cute!

"I-I'll bring s-some wipes. A-And the doctor." She zips out of the door, not bothering to close the door behind. Slowly but steadily, my vision readjusts by itself albeit my glasses fogging completely, and my heart keeps pumping over and over making me nauseous. I just fix a point in my vision and try to focus my thoughts, while keeping my arms forward, trying to not dirty my uniform with blood. That would be a pain to wash out! Ah, I still have to get my stuff from the laundry… Damn me, always going about, dilly-dallying…

"Goro…! Are you ok? I… never saw you like that…" Hiro gets himself sitting on the border of his bed, trying to get to me. "I don't know what happened during my coma, but…!"

Hiro keeps looking at me, analyzing me, like him figuring out a complex problem from way back in class at the Garden. S-So what? Catching up with me having a limit? Do you think I never felt anything just because I didn't show it like you do constantly? Good thing that in Mistilteinn I preferred staying alone and with time I stopped chasing Ichigo, who in turn was your shadow constantly and everywhere you went, otherwise I would had felled a tree each day with my bare hands!

He snaps his look away, embarrassed and taken aback. Did I just glare at him? Why am I doing this…? Hiro is my friend… Why…?

"Ah…Sorry about… that. It's a while that I'm… pissy about everything. I'm just…" I just can barely talk.

The door opens, I turn and see Hisui literally waltzing into the room, with his characteristic long strides. He grabs me unceremoniously by the head and takes a look at each eye, feels my forehead with a thermometer and takes my pulse. After a while, he releases my wrist and a side of his mouth rises.

"Tachycardia, arousal, high temperature. Let's hook you up to the aid machine, could be just stress, maybe not. First though, disinfectant…" He takes a plastic bottle, squeezes it and a rivulet of oxygenated water comes out from the nozzle, landing on a synthetic cotton swab on his other gloved hand. Then he brushes it on my bloody fingernail injuries -ouch that stings- and bandages them with a gauze.

"Please come with me." He taps me on the shoulder, but I resist.

"Wait… I don't feel my legs."

He looks at me and nods.

"Stress catches up with you at the most inappropriate of times. Grab onto me, namegiver!" He takes my arm over his shoulder and gets me up standing. "Having my leg, you're a feather!"

"Hah…" I weakly respond.

In a daze, I feel Ichigo helping me at my other side, grabbing onto me.

In a moment, both of them bring me a room over, with an operation bed and some sort of machine looming over it.

"Let's get him onto the bed." Hisui says with confidence. Like that, I'm leaned against the table and Ichigo helps me laying down, looking extremely worried. The moment I get horizontal on it, I feel the world slowing down. Hisui then attaches me a… clamp… on my finger, integrated with a needle, making me jolt.

"Do you feel slumped?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"Ok. That's normal. You've got quite the low pressure. Ichigo, how much are you overworking your team?"

"I… overworking? What are you…?" She recoils as his sudden attack hits her pride.

"Don't mistake me as a fool, I was a Team Leader like you. Those days I used to see that very often, while the Adults gave us missions days after days… an absolute hell. That's a nervous breakdown, by the way." He points his index finger at me, with absolutely no emotion at all.

"What…!" She gets defensive at Hisui's barrage.

"I'll give you a tip: never destroy your teammates like that, because I'm not going cover for your incompetence. He's staying here for the day." He states while adjusting the apparatus dangling onto the bed I'm occupying.

"…" She opens her mouth, completely ashamed of herself. "I'm sorry…"

"You should be. Don't ever take anyone for granted, even your close ones. That's all."

She scatters towards the wall, leaning against it with arms crossed and a resentful expression.

"D-don't yell… to 'chigo… Hisui… It's… not her… fault…"

"Sorry Goro, some things are to be said. It can be dangerous, and there's always a way around those things."

As always, Hisui looks like a pro. He examines me, and nods.

"If you feel like sleeping, don't hesitate."

I… feel myself drifting… I just look at him tapping away at the machine's terminal, and that sound culls my awareness. I just… my eyes are beating into my orbits… I want to close them. It's like I never really slept well in my whole life, and now the sleep backlog is knocking hard on my head all at once.

I think I'm gonna follow Hisui's advice…

I'll be right back…

Just… in a…

Little…

Whi…

le…

...

* * *

 **Strain - END**

* * *

...

 **Discussion forum:** fanfiction (dot!) net/topic/216244/173972964/1/Chapter-8-Strain

 **LtF Frequently Asked Questions:** fanfiction (dot!) net/topic/216244/173972536/1/LtF-General-FAQ


	9. Chapter 9 :: Sweet dreams, sweet lies

…

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

 **Sweet dreams, sweet lies**

* * *

…

The elevator's door closes, and Hachi looms over its steel surface, impassible. The eerie tomb-like silence of the Command station is filled by the looming sound of spinning computer fans of the command terminals, a plastic-like smell invading his nostrils. He then finally turns his back to the now downward moving elevator, facing the messy but not completely empty room, and takes a deep breath.

He now advances slowly between the concentric rows of desks, on which were accumulated mostly recovered communicators, tablets, ripped out memory units and some terminals taken apart, their black motherboards, memory modules and outer shells lying abandoned between screwdrivers and ripped out capacitors. After stepping over some stacks of mixed reality viewers, he grabs a random empty chair and shoves it in front of a certain terminal and lets himself fall on its soft fake leather cushion.

After flicking the screen on passing his finger on its outer rim, an orange laser keyboard appears projected on the desk from the bottom of the terminal's screen. He taps the desk with three fingers on multiple keys of the keyboard, keeping them pressed, and after some blinks of the LCD screen a command shell comes online, prompting him his credentials.

 _brdnst-cmdter35 login:_

Hachi types away at the desk where the keyboard is projected, the light tapping on the synthetic wood echoing in the command room.

 _brdnst-cmdter35 login: fp35-t1mn-cer008_

Hachi enter, then he gets a prompt for his password, that types away swiftly.

 _password: ***************_

He confirms, and a plain text message of the day welcomes him.

 _Emergency Shell v2.1413._

 _Support ticket automatically submitted._

No one will be managing that ticket. He hunches back on the seat and launches a shell command to impersonate a service account.

 _[fp35-t1mn-cer008 | brdnst-cmdter35] $ su tech-323_

 _password: ***********_

 _[tech-323 | brdnst-cmdter35] $ servicemsg -u fp35-t2br-cer007 'This afternoon I'm coming to visit as always. I will not be alone, so please pull yourself together. Don't make them see you in that state.' –force-delivery_

He hits enter, then abandons his back against the back of the chair, leaving the prompt flashing, waiting for an eventual response. He unconsciously indulges his gaze across the room, bathed in orange twilight that illuminates the specks of dust floating in the air.

Among the forest of terminal screens, he spots a brown-reddish head directly in front of his seat, some desks away. Like a salt statue, the woman is captured by the intermittent flashing of the orange prompt, waiting for something to happen on his own and give her a hint, a direction to follow.

Minutes pass, then he snaps out and simply logs out from the console, tired of waiting for a message that wouldn't arrive. He then gets up and closes to the wall, opens a service panel and presses a button among many. The rumor of electrical motors fills the room and windows open from the walls in every direction, slowly revealing the beautiful bright light of the now halfway rising sun.

A breathtaking aerial view of the lower Bird's Nest comes into view as the panoramic windows open: the gigantic white ring cradling the three Parasite spheres, the bridges resembling white stripes coloring the blue lake below coming out from each cardinal direction of the complex, the rough salt plain, the swirls of sand kicking up where the golden desert starts, and the clear blue sky crowning the pointy mountain ranges all around the complex.

The bobbed hair woman at first squirms her eyes by the sudden sunlight, but then lifts her gaze from the terminal and her fake smile cracks and parts in awe for the beautiful visage, while Hachi relaxes his shoulders, feeling the ever-warming sun that he lacked for too much time.

This is such a beautiful day, so beautiful he' s compelled in not wasting it.

The moment is interrupted by his communicator ringing in his pocket. He just slowly takes it out and switches on the screen, showing the still image of Ikuno looking embarrassed the other way, with a 'Code 196' green caption. He accepts the call, and her deep voice comes out from the speakers.

"Good morning, commander."

"Hello, 196. What do you need?" Hachi asks her.

"I've seen another one of the young Parasites." A preoccupied Ikuno explains.

Hachi reflexively wanders and leans on a nearby table. "Where were you?"

"Sphere 1." She says, in lapidary fashion.

"I see, Stamen or Pistil?"

"Pistil… About 9 years old, or so."

Hachi nods to himself. "I see. Was she fine?"

"Huh... I guess… The stamen was keeping her away from the others. And she was... quite pallid, maybe ill."

"…I see. Do you know where they live?"

"No…"

"What's the Stamen's code?"

"121."

"Mh. I'm gonna look him up. Expect another call in a while. What are your daily tasks?"

"We're going to… retrieve the trash next, after I'm done storing the leftovers." Ikuno says while sighing.

"Could you check out his room while you're doing that?" Hachi asks her. "I want you to check anything out of the ordinary about the Pistil's situation."

"Sir… are you sure?"

"Pairing two Parasites in wildly different growth ages can be dangerous, especially for the young one."

"I see, sir." Her tone paints of dash of worry.

"I'll be contacting you back to tell you his position."

"Yessir."

Hachi closes the communication. Looks like there's work to be done.

…

* * *

…

Down at the wide ring corridor, past the Sphere 1, Ikuno is walking along, driving the empty multiple tier steel trolley in front of her with her forearms on the driving bar, back slouched forward, her communicator held in front of her and on its screen, a 'Communication Ended' message.

"Did you hear that, Futoshi?" She asks while turning it off and holstering the device.

"Yes!" He responds uplifted. He responds peeking from the side, pulling the handle at the front of the cart by one hand. "That guy was a bit sketchy… What was his deal?"

She peeks from the cart, meeting Futoshi. "I don't know. But regardless, we need to just check them out, as Hachi asked us."

"Haha!" Futoshi nods and returns looking forward.

Reached the entrance of the Command Building, the cart is driven up to the elevator, where Futoshi presses the call button. When the cabin opens, he turns around and drags the cart in with both hands, assuring himself that Ikuno's inside with him. Then, he glances the floor panel where he pushes the third subterranean floor, and the cabin plunges downwards.

When the metal doors open once again, a large, long columned corridor propagates from the elevator entrance, dim light coming from inlet neon lamps embedded between the floor and the walls. The rough wall texture, before all painted white with orange details, now darkens in a deep gray with black inlets separating the big blocks of concrete stacked to form Bird's Nest foundation, deep as the deepest point of the lake.

The two push the cart forward through the hexagonal tiled floor and reach a double door on the right of the corridor. Pushed it open, a wide rectangular room lined up by long tables, water faucets and products and a big assembly line comes into view: the food dispenser room.

Composed of four machines in total linked by conveyor belts and transporters, on one end stacks of empty trays are placed on the line where are separated, then sanitized and transported to a paste squeezer where the awful edible goop is distributed on each tray using pressure applied to the food container capsules. Then, at the other end, it's enclosed in a transparent film and placed in a staging area, where it can be taken out, placed on the tall carts lying close and shipped upstairs. Close to it, box containers choke full of tableware, non-perishables and assorted parts.

Ikuno and Futoshi drive their cart towards the others amassed at the end of the line and start grabbing the trays left over on it to store them away on the tables, being not perishable foods. Then, they line up the cart with the others and they look at each other satisfied, nodding.

"And breakfast's done!" Futoshi happily declares while flexing his right bicep in triumph.

"Sure… I'm taking a minute for myself before starting the trash thing…" Ikuno warns her partner, being a bit in a pinch.

"Yes, don't worry." Futoshi assures her. "I need a break too…" He waves his hand over.

They both go out of the dispenser room to turn right and proceed further into the corridor where they found two doors one opposite the other, bearing the sign of gender separated bathrooms. Then each one of them enters its assigned one.

Ikuno closes the door, automatic lights turn on and a wide bathroom with bright-white tiled walls welcomes her, oozing cleanliness and order. On the left side of the room, a row of metal oval columned sinks embedded in the wall, so clean they could act as mirrors, hanging a meter from the floor, with fresh soap and wipes in transparent oval dispensers and air jet hand driers placed just to the side. A wide actual mirror was hanging from the wall in front of the sinks, bearing a watermark of Papa's symbol and not even a speck of dust on it.

"Hell yeah, Goro." She appreciates his companion's thoroughness. "Good that this is not as frequented as the ones upstairs."

She closes to the row of sinks while yawning and taking off her wide, black rimmed glasses. She folds them and places them in the flat part of the sink, pinches her nose, then closes in to the mirror, taking a good look at the gigantic eyebags under her tired and lidded deep green eyes, to frown in disappointment.

"Ugh… now I know why the small girl was afraid of me." She declares, taken aback from her deranged visage. She then opens the faucet and lets the water flow a little, to then lean and make her hands in a cup to wash herself with the freezing cold tap water. She squeaks at the contact of her face with the water, but repeats the same gesture regardless, until her nose becomes cold. Then, she takes off a wipe from the nearby tray and dries her face, rubbing her eyes thoroughly. She puts her glasses on, and while crumpling the paper wipe, she stops in her tracks as she winces from a sudden surge of pain at the abdomen.

"Crap. Really? Already!..." She exasperates and massages her tummy while throwing the ball of paper into the thrash basket nearby. She quickly washes her hands with soap, turns and takes a glance at the bathroom stalls, separated by thick walls and a sliding door, between which are hanged from the walls some vertical dispensers from where she extracts with her fingertips a plastic-packed cylindrical object and enters a stall, closing the door behind.

"…Leaving something behind, huh?"

After a while, she opens the door, walks back to the sinks and throws a crumpled, full packet back into the trash.

"That's what I'm leaving behind." She says with disdain.

She washes her hands again and proceeds out of the bathroom, where Futoshi was waiting her leaning against the wall, some meters away from the door.

"Sorry for the wait." She plainly addresses Futoshi while walking towards him.

"No problem, I'm in no hurry, really." He tranquilly says, while taking off beside her with both hands in the pockets, both proceeding towards the elevator, in a quite relaxed fashion.

Ikuno frowns a bit. She looms back a bit to stare at his stride, then she nervously sighs. "You guys have it easier." She comments.

Futoshi then turns his head and stares at her questioning, grabs his big chin, then has an illumination and responds to the point, smiling. "You girls have it nicer."

She immediately stops in comic aghast, gritting her teeth and getting red as hell on her freckles' area of the face, stiffened. "W-w-w-what did you just say…!" She says outraged in an acute voice, covering herself in reflex.

Futoshi stops and looks at her stunned. "Nicer… as in… physically …?" He pins down his thoughts, trying to understand her reaction. "What were you referring to…?" He asks embarrassed.

He stares at him without words, then she gradually cools down, in the revelation that it was only a misunderstanding. For a moment, she thought that he'd said something outrageous, but her imagination was, of course, taking over her tired mind. She waves her hand, ashamed.

"Sorry… I'm a bit tired." Why would Futoshi say something like that, she thinks… even though, he mentioned girls as 'nice'. Nothing really wrong with that, she agrees.

Futoshi continues along still a bit preoccupied, and Ikuno follows him inside the elevator, where he selects the lobby floor. They reach the main lobby, where they enter the maintenance corridor, where they enter the laundry room and look over at the automatic driers. Ikuno notices a washing machine blinking in standby.

"Ah! Who left his stuff here?" She opens the slanted porthole and takes out a wet Stamen's uniform. She looks at the label inside the clothing to discover its owner.

"Goro? Aha, got you!" She exclaims.

"Ah come on, Ikuno, give him a breather, he should be preparing the cleaning team by now!"

"I'm sure she's already at Ichigo's side, not even thinking of that stuff." You can't keep away a dog from his owner, she gravely judges in her head. She gets a basket from under some waiting benches and gives it to Futoshi. "Could you take them out?"

"S-sure…" Futoshi blinks at her while she opens a nearby cabinet, to take out a set of work clothes and a cap, blue with white inlets.

"I'm going change in the locker room." She warns him, going out.

"Ok..." Futoshi says listless back to her, while she goes out of the room, and enters a door further in the corridor.

…

* * *

…

A small Pistil. Bobbed and wavy blonde hair, white dress, brown shoes… was giving her the shoulders. Ikuno tries to close in with her hand drawn forward, but the small girl talks to her with a contemptuous, immature voice, turning the other way. "Go away." She stops halfway, waves of unease hitting her.

"Why are you here? I don't want you." Another voice comes from behind here, and she turns, to find the same little girl giving her the back. Ikuno turns back, but the other little girl standing there disappeared.

"You make me sick. Why are you staring?" Another voice beside her. She turns, to find a male brown-haired Child staring the other way, in the same contempt of the little girl.

"I can do what I want." She says, defiant.

"You're creepy anyways." The male Child replies.

"No!"

"Creepy!" He scorns her.

"No‼" Ikuno exasperates.

"You're a frog! CREEPY!" The child turns to her, with hateful eyes.

"Shut up!" She shouts, in a fit of anger, closing her fists.

"You make me vomit!"

"SHUT-UP‼" She shouts in intimidation.

"Ikuro! Ikuro! IKURO‼"

"AAAAAAAAAGH!" Ikuno goes for his neck with her hands, losing control to her rage. Her thumb's nails drive into the Child's neck, while his smile deletes from his face and is substituted by fear as she's strangling him, while taking off the ground his small body with dangling feet and hands grasping hers, with no strength at all.

"N-No please! Ple-hgh!" His voice struggles, his lungs being denied hair and his hands losing grip from the shock.

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" She loses her mind, shouting like a banshee, while clenching her fingers around the Child's fragile neck, stronger.

And stronger.

And stronger,

AND STRONGER‼

She gasps, and the darkness morphs in to the locker room she was changing into, its door being banged incessantly. She was sitting on a bench, in the act of changing to her work clothes…

"What have I done…?" She asks still confused, looking lost at her own hands.

"Ikuno! Ikuno! Are you fine? Ikuno‼" A preoccupied voice could be heard from the corridor. But she didn't have the strength to reply. She instead wanted to weep. Hard.

"Ah… Futoshi…Ah…" She starts to wince weakly.

"You're…! I'M COMING! PULL AWAY FROM THE DOOR!" Futoshi shouts losing his cool and starts shouldering the door out of its hinges repeatedly. The door comes loose and Futoshi slams it open with his feet on the lock, storming in like a fury.

Ikuno barely notices him, still just in a bra and gripping on her overalls, like they were her only anchor to reality. Futoshi, in his work overalls, throws himself in front of him and grabs her by the shoulders and starts shaking her.

"What happened? Are you hurt?" He shouts at her, in extreme worry.

She recoils and shows her tear-stricken, grieved face, sobbing away.

"Ikuno! Get yourself together!"

"I-I… think I… had a… fell asleep." She starts fumbling in shock. "I-I… a-a horrible nightmare..."

"Aaah…" Futoshi defuses- then he slowly embraces her. "It's over now. It's over." He tries to console her.

She buries herself on his large, accommodating shoulders where she cries her lungs out while shuddering, her glasses slipping upwards her face and pressing against it, while Futoshi caresses her nude back. After a while, she calms down and parts with his stamen, her butterfly clip coming off from her hair.

"Are you OK now?" He asks.

"Yeah…" She adjusts her glasses and removes her hairpin, to recomb her medium, mostly white hair back in place.

"Damn…" Futoshi contemplates the torn open door with satisfaction. "I'm a force of nature! O-Ow…" He suddenly grasps his head, a bit taken aback. "Maybe a bit less of that…"

"Hehehe… although you sure are dependable, Futoshi. Thanks for being present." Ikuno smiles softly at his partner.

"Ah, wait!" He turns to an almost nude Ikuno, connecting the facts too late. "No way! I should have thought that through!" He gets close to the door and starts pulling it left and right, only one hinge still attaching it to the frame, and the lock lying helplessly on the floor.

"Whoops!" He closes the door, but it drifts open again.

"Don't worry, I'm going to change like this for now…"

"How do you even repair this…?" He worries quite a bit: how is he even supposed to know?

"We'll place a curtain at a minimum, so don't worry. Now though, please leave, I'm starting to think you're staring at too much 'niceness' in here!"

"Sure… I'll leave. Don't fall asleep again! There are no doors left to bust open!" He scolds her ironically while smiling full lips, turning and saluting out of the locker room.

She returns the smile, then resumes changing herself, now calmed herself down and ready for the day.

…

* * *

…

I feel myself falling, back first.

I'm at terminal velocity inside an infinite clear blue sky.

Guts of air are whipping my clothes, arms and legs, as the pressure of the fall is almost scalping my hair from my skull. A magnificent sensation pervades me, as the sun smiles me directly from above, so big and warming. My clothes feel so comfortable…

I turn to fall belly first and I see my all around me, a sea of cirrus clouds expands towards every direction, filling the sky below me. Towering like giants peeping with their head from the ocean's surface, stark white cumulonimbus keep watch on the celestial arc, from where observe their undisputed dominion. My face feels a warm sensation as I just plunge into an endless fall, adrenaline pumping into my veins fueled by absolute catharsis. Then, something happens, and everything changes around me.

The white sea of clouds paints in orange, then in fiery red of lightning, twirling like a hurricane, of which center is my final destination. My catharsis transforms in fear, as that hellish vision keeps getting closer and closer, twirling faster and faster. Gravity keeps pulling me down and I can't do anything to stop it. I panic enveloped in the strong gusts that blister my face while trying in naught to bob and decelerate, but the sky is too strong to go against. Things are meant to fall, so I'm falling too, towards the eye of the storm revealing a red, nightmarish and dead earth.

No! Stop! Please! Someone help!

A lapse, and I find myself in darkness, buried under a mountain of… comfortable lavender bed sheets, that smell like just washed. I feel lying on my left side, my head on a puffy pillow, but I don't see anything. I try to calm my heartbeat, still affected by adrenaline and fear from that… Dream? Nightmare? I usually don't dream, so this is a one manner of a kind of waking up. It was so lucid and real, so detailed! Also scary as hell towards the end… My head is pumping at the rhythm of my heart, expanding and contracting at each pulse, fragile but crystal clear.

Then I recollect the… really painful way I had in going completely out of myself in Hiro's room. What the hell! I did that in front of my best friends too… That was the most shameful thing ever! My face is going on fire and a sharp sensation pierces my chest… Was it also a dream? Please tell me it was a dream… Hell, no, it wasn't! My hands are bandaged and still feel stingy from the leftover pain in my palms. What was with my reaction? In an instant I couldn't control myself, and everything fell apart, both body and mind losing contact with reality in the rush of the moment. Why did it happen? Am I ill? Some sort of different Parasite Flu that, instead of making you sloppy and fiery, breaks down your mind?

I just let those thoughts sink in. My chest feels like a giant empty cave, so let's not freak out again.

But looming about the stuff that I heard from Hiro, how is he still sane after all of that? Can I trust him of his words, or is it just his imagination being haywire in a high stress and high risk situation? I instantly believed him since he doesn't have a reason to lie to me with that brazenly. But what if his memories are affected by the shock and he's hallucinating, since he got a solid hit to his head? Or worse, got confused while with that weird connection with the Princess? And apart from that, does he actually even care of what he discovered, since 02 is all he thinks about? Because it's such reality-flipping stuff, really… who wouldn't freak out? Papa went in a moment from loved protector of humanity, to indifferent ruler, to oppressor and ended up a genocidal agent of… VIRM? He even confirmed with his own words- what the hell is VIRM? Is it really the race of those violet robots? Why do people followed him, and more importantly, why no one noticed until now that he's a robot? I don't understand anything even about the Adults… were they completely blind?

Why did you created us to make us suffer like that? To what end, if then you decided to… end yourself?

These questions make my head hurt… But I just want to know the truth. This is the only way I can move on.

Some time passes, and the air below the blankets starts to turn a little heavy… my glasses aren't on my nose, I don't feel my shoes and I'm still wearing my Stamen uniform… how did I even get here? Wasn't I… in that room with that hard bed? I guess I was moved somehow. How the scan went? I must ask… Hisui.

Is it fair that I named him instead of asking Hiro, since he named me before? Maybe he just assumed it was me that named everyone, so asked for a name on the spot... I guess that was the best I could do at that moment…

For now, the comfort cuddling me inside these blankets is the stuff that dreams are made from! The first part of dreams... Somehow, the end of them is the worst part, in a way or the other. Now though, I'd like to at least peek around, so… What? Something a heavy is beside me…

Without ado, I resurface to meet fresh air and an almost completely dark room, with just a faint LED light illuminating a switch controller dangling just over my head, with an image of a lightbulb on one of the buttons… so I press it and the lights over the bed lit up.

I lift my head up from over the white covers to see a… small figure resting beside me in a fetal position? Turning to the right and getting close to focus my view, since I'm near-sighted, and…

Yup, that's Ichigo.

Is she sleeping? On my same bed? Yes! She's lying beside me with her head planted on my right flank!

"Oy… Ich..."

Wait, actually! Don't wake up, you cute thing! I want to see how she sleeps, since that's a rare occurrence to be with her in the same room... What marvels will her snoring face bring? Let's find out!

Trying hard to not bump her, I close my face to hers, then use my fingers to move her fringe aside to try to uncover her face. As I do that, I notice she's… not sleeping. She's staring at me pouting like an owl.

"Goro." The frown expands and aggravates.

Abort! Abort! Rule number one: attack before being attacked!

"Why were you lying with your face on my butt?"

She breaks her composure and shoots away her stare, in embarrassment. "G-g-g-g-orororo!" Her face becomes literally a strawberry. "S-s-sorry! I-I j-just w-wanted to stay beside you!"

"Well, thanks Ichigo!" I pat her head smiling like an idiot at that beautiful thought, and her livid visage decolors as she casts aside my hand and lunges for another attack.

"I was scared, you know! You hurt yourself a-a-and…! I was incredibly worried! What the hell happened to you?" She blurts while flinging her fists downwards, lifting herself kneeling on the border of the mattress dragging towards her the sheets.

"I don't know…" I sit up, my body still groggy, and try to prevent the blanket stealing attempt, only to drag her towards me. "That never happened to me. I felt everything… was falling down."

"You should have told me that you were in that state!" She blurted out with a frown.

"I was feeling well up until that moment!" I justify myself dumbfounded.

"The doctor said you were mentally exhausted!" She accuses me.

"I honestly didn't pick that up. I was…"

"Of course, you never do!" She heats up and raises her voice. "Stop ignoring your body! You're not making me a favour if you always disregard yourself and get hurt! You're driving me mad!" She clenches her fists against her chest.

"I'm honest… I didn't…"

"Why are doing this to yourself?" Her expression darkens. "Is it because it's about me, isn't it…?" She utters.

That last sentence just froze my mind cold.

"How much times did you just say 'I'm fine, Ichigo!' and pushed on? Do you think that I want this? Like that one time when you almost killed yourself for me!? Why don't you have some self-care!?" She yells loudly.

Her eyes are begging mercy, telling me everything about how much I hurt her. "I… Please, I… I value you more than just a partner or something." She says, while her eyes become those of a puppy. "I want you to be happy…"

I know what makes me happy.

"I… look…" She makes a deep breath, gets serious and looks me straight in the eyes. "I will repeat myself again… I'm… I'm not sure about how to respond… to that thing you said to me that time. I don't know… what love really means."

Liar.

My gaze drops on the blanket over my knees.

"Goro…?"

Is she saying I'm not wanted? No, it's not that. She just needs time. What is time, really? For her, I would give her all my time to her, all of myself either. Except… It feels painful. It feels incredibly painful. It feels extremely painful.

Not being loved back.

I noticed, but I just… ignored it. The way she looks at Hiro… I really want her to be looking at me the same way she longs him. I want to be that one person that Ichigo cares and dedicates her days to.

But that's not happening.

So, I just take my feelings and shove them where I can't see them, denying reality, lying to myself, only to notice them when reality catches up and hurts me. When I get burned, she saddens and worries about my inability of caring about myself, only to fuel back my desire to…

Ah… now I see.

This love is a freefall towards the ground.

Like in that dream.

This love can't stand up by itself anymore.

"Ichigo… do you want know what love feels like?" I ask her while serious.

I don't want regrets. It's all or nothing.

"I… ah…" I put her on the spot, but I can't complain about that now…

"You're… my first thought when I wake up." I start off, to make a brief pause. I want to choose the best words I can for this.

She stops in place, silent.

"When I'm without you… I wonder what you're doing. If you're with me, I feel a meter off the ground from the happiness."

Her small lips twitch.

"When we talk, I want to make you feel good in my company. Also, when something happens, I want you to be the first to know, so we can talk about it. When we drive our FranXX I feel in heaven, as I know you are the closest you possibly can be to me, in that moment."

I continue, and her sapphire eyes widen.

"When I see your smile, I feel like the sun has just risen over the mountains. When you're sad, clouds gather, and the warmth of the day is taken from me. When you're in pain, I want to comfort you and cast away your fears."

Her frame winces in fast breaths as I further explain.

"Then, when we part, I think about the good day I've had being with you. Then, you're my last thought until I close my eyes. I think that love is just that- wanting to be with someone no matter what. That's what I feel about you."

I feel limpid clarity and my chest fluctuates. Fireworks of pleasure are going off in my head while I tell her how much she's an irreplaceable person in my life. Just now I realize how saying that vapid 'I think I love you' was something stupid, because it's like describing a shining blue lake as a dirty glass of water. This is me opening myself, stopping telling lies and exposing my heart to her, with no useless filters.

Yet she stands there, dumbfounded, scared… Why are you looking at me like that…? Shouldn't this be the most beautiful thing to hear…? Or… it doesn't work if said from me?

I guessed as much…

"Do you know what's the most painful thing to experience while loving someone?" I let my words fall to the ground. She continues to stare me, now tensing her back.

"Knowing that your loved one doesn't love you back. Then disregarding that, lying to yourself and pushing through, waiting for that to revert, but only getting a reminder of why it won't ever happen."

My painful words resound in an echo bouncing in the helpless silence of the room.

"This is what I call love."

She widens further her scared eyes, hiding her mouth with her hands to suffocate a lament.

"Do you relate?"

An eternity passes as she calms down and she falls into insensibility, sliding her hands down to protect her tummy with both hands as her long right bang covers her face, only her upturned nose peeking from her bluish hair and the hairpin I gave her shining in the bed's white light.

"Yes."

I knew that all along... Now I just want the truth, even if it hurts, because lies are just as painful, if not more, to wake up from. A life full of lies is not worth being lived.

"Do you feel the same about me?"

Now, Ichigo.

Please.

Please.

Please, release me of my torment.

...

* * *

 **Sweet dreams, sweet lies - END**

* * *

...

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	10. Chapter 10 :: A promised future

…

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

 **A promised future**

* * *

…

In a blue, baggy work overalls with black inlets, Ikuno comes out from the smashed locker room, kicking splinters left and right with her black work boots, trying to clear the middle of the entrance from what remains of the torn out synthetic wood door. Satisfied of the apparent order, she proceeds down the corridor from where she came from, now Futoshi nowhere to be seen. But she was confident in where she could find him shortly, as this was a recurring job of theirs and they have a precise set of habits about tackling it.

She chooses always the same type of job to avoid taxing ones like cleaning endless corridors, frenetically transporting everything everywhere and being tainted by all those digital, boring technical manuals required to operate the automated machines, that don't tell about how they intimately work, but only endlessly elaborate on how to push their buttons to provide an equally boring effect.

For her, a good old book was everything she needed in life, since nothing was about as close as discovering those unseen, exciting worlds told in images and words on rough paperback, to escape in those long stories made of adventure and wonder. Too bad that wasn't anything close to a job description in Bird's Nest, so she had to settle with the closest to a light job she could come up with. With everyone's approval, her work was just right, especially paired with Futoshi, who's unstoppable in front of physical work and, most importantly, values her as a person unlike her previous partner… who has become a different person in the meantime. She at least gives him that to be proud about.

Her work boots hollowly resound on the tiled pavement while she enters the wide, circular lobby, and she stops admiring the fake trees under glass, weighting their symmetry and regularity, a still life very honest about nature compared to the artsy and messy paintings up in the officer's quarters lobby, clearly made to please the eye.

That magic moment disappears when she spots an abandoned food tray close to the wall, crumpled and its contents littered close by, dispersed like someone threw it into the wall.

"Who does that sort of thing-!" She blurts on, vexed. She enters the fake garden by the side entrance and, stepping on the tiled path through the decorative gravel laid around the metal trees towards the far metal white wall.

Closing in to the spilled foods, she notices that are still intact since the soft container seems to have absorbed the shock of the throw. Ikuno, without ado, picks all of them up and shoves them back inside. Decided to not waste any, she proceeds out of the garden and sits down on the ground against the inner wall close to the garden's entrance, taking out a chocolate bar and inspecting it with gusto… but a spark of guilt ignites, and she stops midway in opening it.

"I shouldn't do this… didn't I eat almost a cake last night?" Yes, she did. Recently her stomach has behaved like a neverending chasm. She swallows her saliva and, against her desires, places the bar back in the half-crumpled tray.

"This is getting out of hand. I need to control myself." She says to herself, noticing her own distress was getting bigger and bigger, day after day. Not only she binged on reading, she did it on eating too. Gathering that… she felt something was amiss in herself, but she couldn't tell what.

She shoves the pack to her side and waits on leaning her head against the wall, her tired but aware eyes still open wide from that horrible dream that violently pumped adrenaline in every crevice of her body…

"That wasn't me…" She guiltily whispers.

After a minute, Ikuno picks up a deaf sound echoing from one of the corridors opposite of where she was sitting… the sound of rubber screeching on metal and a high-pitched, looming buzz getting closer. Taking that as a signal, she detaches groggily from the wall and gets herself up with the pack under her arm, waiting for the buzzing to decelerate.

In anticipation, a dashing Futoshi makes his appearance, driving bulky electric utility cart clockwise in the atrium's circle around the elevator. The vehicle's front consists of a metal frame encased in a rollbar without doors, holding a three-seat at the steering wheel and a big trash container the shape of an inverted bell with some hydraulic braces installed at the back, painted orange and black stripes. He decelerates further and stops in front of Ikuno, wheels sliding onto the tiled floor.

"Hello, there! Want a ride?" He asks jolly.

"Sure!" She smiles lightly.

"Oh? Where did you found that? Why is it broken?" He asks her about the tray she's holding onto.

"I found it in there." She points behind with her thumb towards the iron statues. "Someone threw it against the wall." She frowns slightly.

"Ah- unruly! Why would someone do that!" He protests, taken aback.

"It's still intact… You can take some, if you want." She offers the pack.

"N-no thanks, I'm not hungry…" He refuses waving his hand, slightly embarrassed.

"Well, ok… I'll keep onto it." She goes around the vehicle and slides on the rough cloth-covered front seat, leaving the pack in the seat between her and Futoshi, then grabs onto a hand holder attached to the front seat's roll-bar as she leans back onto the seat and placing a foot onto the lower part of the cabin to support herself. Futoshi notices her partner's still dull movements and wonders about her state.

"Is everything fine now?" He asks with a note of worry.

"Yeah, no problem. Shall we go?" She cuts the topic off. Futoshi slightly smirks at her defiance.

"Sure that you're strong, but please, take it easy." He warns her in his now serious tone. "You can rely on me."

"Hmpf." She stubbornly responds, in a positive tone, looking the other way.

He tries to smile, but only manages to pull off a tense sigh, as he recomposes himself. Readjusting his stance on the seat, he grabs firmly onto the wheel, ready to drive on.

"Well, here we go!" He grins.

He floors the pedal!

Wheels wheezing onto the floor make Ikuno widen her eyes as the recoil of the acceleration makes her shoot upwards her left arm, grabbing onto the rollbar over her head.

"F-F-Futoshi!" She howls in surprise.

The electric motor wheezes in a high-pitched hum while taking the cart to speed, completing the lap in the lobby ring then steering towards the same white two-way corridor he came from, marked by horizontal signage and labelled "Light Vehicle Bay", "Vehicle Lift" and "Heavy Vehicle Bay".

"Uhhh! Speed!" Futoshi jollily exclaims.

As the cart stabilizes, Ikuno readjusts herself on the seat. She pouts at him, but her expression breaks at his big, illuminating smile.

"Ehhhh…" She slaps her forehead in disappoint. He's such a big child!

Light gusts of air start whipping wildly Ikuno's white hair strands as the illuminated corridor passes past her, windows zipping on the left wall giving the distinct image of the Spheres' curved wall dotted by skylights shifting as they proceed down the long hallway.

After a while, the way enlarges and divides in two: one normal corridor on the right and another branching to the left, transitioning into a downwards spiral ramp marked "Vehicle only access". Futoshi takes the left turn, lowering his speed before descending downwards.

Reached the bottom of the ramp, a wide multi-story garage welcomes them: grey metal pillars suspending the entire structure, each story composed of mini lifts, driveways marked by orange road lines marking and parking stalls tidily full of small abandoned electric vehicles: corridor sweepers, magma tankers, freezer transporters, open-top pick up trucks…

Not too far away, straight in front from the end of the ramp and embedded into the wall was the aforementioned lift: an open design, surrounded by steel netting retentions, large enough to house at least ten of those vehicles at closes slowly to the entrance, and a photocell activates and automatically opens up the grated door to let the cart inside.

Ikuno dismounts and goes to a button stand on the left side of the lift, where she presses the descent switch, that triggers the closing the entrance and starts the slow descent with a loud hydraulic jerk. On the left wall of the elevator shaft are embedded slanted glassed skylights from where could be seen the base of the spheres, where long, slanted columns embedded in the base's foundation were supporting their massive weight. All around those, roads were made circling the supports and linking to the service elevators directly linked to the Sphere's interior, since bulky vehicles were not

She returns to the cart's seat and wonders for a short while, then she jerks as her communicator starts ringing in her pants pocket: she takes it out and opens its screen to be met with a static image of Hachi, with a "Video Call" caption.

"That's Hachi!" She warns his companion.

"Oh, that's right! I almost forgot." Futoshi recoils in surprise.

"Here we go. We're gonna be live." Ikuno gets closer to Futoshi and places the device on the dashboard of the cart, facing the holoscreen towards both of them and accepting the call: the screen pops from black to a bright image of Hachi from slightly below his chin, sitting in a desk in front of a terminal in an illuminated command room, typing away, while his communicator was placed on the desk at his side. As he picks up with his eye's tail the change of image from his end, he stops typing and faces both.

"Greetings, 196, 214." He plainly salutes both.

"Greetings, Hachi." Ikuno responds to him.

"I have an update on the situation. I've found that Stamen's information, and he's registered in Sphere 1, north side, chamber 34." Hachi says while checking the screen with a glance. "As said earlier, I want you to check the room and report back for anything out of the ordinary."

"What do we do if the little Pistil is in the room?" Ikuno asks.

"Talk a bit with them, observe the situation… and report back again."

Both keep staring at him, nodding, but Futoshi does so with discomfort, so intense that he takes word

"Excuse me sir…" He asks him unsure of his reaction.

"Yes?" Hachi replies.

"We're already checking on the young Children for some days… but… why are we doing this?"

Ikuno glares at him, taken aback at his nerve. Hachi instead, parts slightly his mouth in silence, pensive.

"Futoshi…!" Ikuno chastises him whispering. "That's not our conc-"

He blinks "I didn't explain it to you, and that's my fault, since I should have done that." Hachi states in a neutral tone, but his demeanour breaks down as he brushes his fist on his forehead, and sighs looking down at the desk.

"They were supposed to be trusted…" He whispers to himself.

Ikuno darts his gaze back to the screen, aghast towards the pinch Futoshi placed on her commander.

"S…Sir, just say a word and…" She tries to offer her fidelity, trying to correct the vague unease of being out of her place.

"I know, 196, but…" Hachi straightens his back and summons back his aplomb. "I need you to actually understand this situation. It's for everyone's interest."

Futoshi, encouraged by the positive reaction, lets out decidedly his doubts.

"So… sir… Why are young Parasites here at Bird's Nest?"

Hachi takes a long breath as he reclines his back on the chair, joining his hands.

"After the first battle of Gran Crevasse, many Pistils and Stamens were either declared dead or unable to fight."

He begins explaining as the two Parasites fix their immobile gaze on their commander's video feed.

"So, to fill in the required unit count to defend the site, the last generations of fit children were pushed into service earlier. Problem is, the generations immediately after yours were not enough since the conflict extended far beyond what was estimated: Parasite numbers were dwindling, so the call to arms extended to the earlier generations."

"As you know, becoming a Parasite comes with age, but they weren't physically ready yet, so High Command issued a certain mandatory protocol ordinance..."

He explains on, in difficulty.

"Children from the age of 8 through age of 14 were forcibly given the…"

He stops talking and looks at her in the eyes. Then he wanders his eyes to the side and continues.

"Elixyr injection."

Ikuno opens her eyes like she's hit by a cold shower.

"No… way…" Ikuno leans backwards to the seat while trying to force herself to stay calm, bringing her joined hands against her chest about to burst open from her heartbeat. Futoshi jerks upwards a little and his mouth comes open ever so slowly while a mist envelopes his off-focused eyes.

"The young Pistils and Stamens survivors from the procedure were shipped en-masse from the Garden, an estimate total of fourty-three."

"H-How many d-did…" Ikuno asks as she breaths air having the same density of water, her face contorted in pure disbelief.

"The 85%." Hachi says cryptically.

Ikuno's mouth dangles as her shoulders slowly slump forward and her head falls, as small breaths shudder back and forth her light frame. An instant passing in an eternity of contemplative silence, disturbed only by the humming of the elevator descending and the light of the morning sun extruding from vertical glassed apertures in the external wall.

Seconds make their leave and Hachi shifts in his seat and leans over the table, perching his head on the desk with his arm while affixing his gaze away from the screen. He brushes his palm on his face, to grip his own forehead, eyes closed.

"Hachi."

Ikuno gets his attention as he darts his head back up, to see her straightening her back and forcing air back into her lungs in looking upwards, her framed eyes enveloped in a tornado of disbelief and fear.

"Yes."

"Now I understand…" She reassures him, maybe herself more than anyone else. "…It's OK."

Her still blinking fast, fazed gaze descends back to meet Hachi's neutral one. Her breath stabilizes as she slowly massages in a circular motion her checks to regain some vivacity, trying to relax her tensed facial muscles strained from the horrible news.

"Did you… know all along?"

He nods. "I dug a little at that time."

"I see." She lets out a liberating smile, relieved that Hachi was there for them.

She adjusts herself on the seat while turning her head to check on Futoshi, to find him covering his mouth with one hand and grabbing the wheel with the other, his short eyebrows crumpled inward barely showing teary and droopy eyes full of misery.

"That's terrible…" He lets out a choked voice as he leverages himself on the wheel to wander towards the wall with the slanted skylights, his big back towards Ikuno slightly slouched. Hands in his pockets, he stops in front of them to occupy his mind with the epically big panorama of the Spheres.

"Just a moment…" She tells Hachi, that nods and pauses the communication.

Ikuno notices his distress and is compelled to follow him, getting up herself and making her way hesitantly to him, to close hesitantly by his big back… only to grind to a halt a couple of meters behind him, like invisible arms grabbed and stopped her, trying to pull her away from him.

What was she supposed to do?

Was she correct in doing that?

How will he react? Will he refuse her?

Fear. She felt too much fear.

The girl's mind fluttered to not so long ago, that episode she had in the locker room… he didn't hesitate to bash the door down to come to help her, to suppress her cries on his shoulder and to try even to console her out of the sorry state she left herself in. He felt fear too, but instead he faced it head-on disregarding everything… something she wouldn't have the courage to do.

Ikuno wondered frustrated why she had to always like that… he's not a… bad guy. In fact, he's the most…

She shakes those thoughts out of her mind. Why is she still there? She needs to do something now!

Ikuno closes the most distant meters she ever covered and, in front of his slowly breathing back, she reaches with both of the palms of her hands. She finally touches him, her hands feeling his body warmth, still unsure of the contact she's making. His breath faltered for a moment but he didn't protest at all.

Is this as far as it goes? Hell no.

She slides her palms upwards, brushing his back muscles, towards his shoulders.

Futoshi, feeling her hands coming up, slowly straightens himself in reaction to her contact, but then relaxes and calms his breathing further. He brings his own hands to the shoulders to enclose those of Ikuno's.

"Thanks…" He sighs.

"…" In all response, she leans her forehead onto his back trying to make him feel her presence, eyes closed. The light coming from the murder holes illuminate like a lighthouse the large interior of the elevator's cabin, moving downwards ever so slowly in a low hum.

"Do… you remember… when we visited for the last time the Garden?" Futoshi asks her.

Yes, she does.

…

* * *

…

 _She remembers…_

…that cold and white winter day, when she and her FranXX squad visited for the last time the Garden, the place where they spent their entire early life growing up.

She was there for a maintenance check-up as her service age required, but she quite didn't anticipate that turn of events after all. Of course, her body had to be checked regularly to give her the best chance of surviving the dire task she was assigned to, but she didn't know that Papa had decided to send them to the research labs in a separate part of the complex, the most advanced ones in all of the continent.

Hachi explained them that, since their track record was amazing compared to every other FranXX squad ever employed, they were given the opportunity to be serviced by the best of the field still present in research to give them the most qualified treatment possible. So, after some days and battles, they dismounted by air transport in front of the entrance and, after the exams, were given the opportunity to roam the Garden.

 _She clearly remembers…_

…when, during her free time, she disobeyed the orders given from their superiors, Hachi and Nana, and wandered with her squad to the Children's nursery, declared off-limits for them from the Administration. She didn't care if she would get punisher for that, since her desire to visit that place again was too strong to ward off.

She just wanted to see for the last time the places where she used to play, and nothing could really stop her from doing what she wanted… except the Guards, that were assigned somewhere else anyway.

The Parasite school library, all by herself…

She barged inside still in her winter overcoat, the poor caretakers looking nervously at her while scooting around or immobile like salt statues unable to say anything, as weren't prepared to deal with a grown-out Parasite roaming… She thought it was so funny!

 _She dearly remembers…_

…standing beside the entrance to the library, smiling full lips as the memories of her past came back to her… multiple open stories of teal high library shelves all lined against the walls on multiple levels, full of books of every kind and shapes, surrounding an open space filled with large reading desks and chairs.

Flocks of young, happily teeming kids were reading picture books while laughing in whispers, some others more mature in age were huddled in the corners sitting on beanbag chairs, trying to read more difficult ones in peace, unaware of her presence. Where she was used in sitting? Ah, yes, back then she preferred that corner! But the beanbags were a little too small for her and she didn't want to have unwanted attention, so she just approached the first shelf to her right scanning the rows of books for her favourites.

In fact, she found a big, thick, black book in the high shelf, on it's cover a watercolored depiction of a lion. She easily slides it from the others and holds it in her hands, feeling the consistency of the cloth cover and the paperback underneath. Her fingers passed on the old, rough pages while she read its first paragraph with her heart beating warmly.

She was brought out of the trance when, suddenly, she felt something pulling the side of her coat. Ikuno detached her eyes on the book to see the head of a small child meekly peeking just over her waistline. The child's cheeks fired up in embarrassment as Ikuno returned her gaze, but she steadied herself, still pulling the coat's pocket from below.

"E-Excuse me… are you… a Parasite?" She asks to the tall girl.

Ikuno looks down at her curiously, closing the book in her hands before addressing her gently.

"Yes." She replied calmly, thinking about what could have driven the little girl onto her, that from the response opened her eyes and mouth in amazement, then her little face slowly transitioned into a beaming smile.

"AH! AH!" She fibrillates. "FOR REAL?"

"Mh-Mh." Ikuno nodded, curious about the girl's attention.

"Wowowowow!" The small Child started to jump up and down from the excitement, drawing the attention of other nearby Children that suddenly wake up from their reading and noticing a different person from the caretakers standing close to the library shelves being groped by one of their companions.

The Child stops jumping and her expression paints with a dash of embarrassment, unsure about conveying her feelings.

"I-I-want…" The girl stutters and looks away, tensing her little body.

"…T-To be like you...!" She admired her literally dangling from her coat.

Ikuno, surprised, showed her an unsure expression on her own.

"I mean- You look so cool!" She utters, as Ikuno aggravated her surprise. "I want to drive a FranXX! I want to fight to protect the Adults!" The little girl says with visible joy.

"Ah…Cool, eh?" A beginning of a smile escaped her, as those simple admiration words from the Child warmed her chest. As that sensation enlarged and enveloped her body, she felt serenity in the little to-be-Pistil embraced her, nuzzling herself against her and blushing out of happiness.

"Don't worry, I'll be looking forward in fighting with you at my side." Ikuno praised the girl and, being compelled by some instinct, slowly approached her palm towards her little head, to start caressing slowly her brown hair, in circular motions. The little girl shot up her head taken by surprised by the gesture, but then gladly accepted being rubbed.

Then, she suddenly notices that the Children all around were drawn to her, as much as curious as the little girl, wanting to discover that unusual event. In a matter of seconds, she was surrounded by dense packed little heads in teal tunics huddling around her that wanted to be patted.

Ikuno felt inadequate with a hand still holding on to the heavy book, so she shoved it back into the library shelf and started happily patting away the Children's heads, almost detached from the reality of the situation. The little ones started to enjoy it too, desiring to make contact with the grown-up Pistil.

"Do you like books?"

"I want to be like you, too!"

"Please don't leave…"

In no time, the entire library was drawn towards her. The caretakers were observing the situation from a distance, in the verge of intervening, but they were blocked like in a trance, as they didn't understand what was happening in front of them, their o-shaped mouths the only indication of their expression as their visor hats hid their eyes.

From a side entrance, a caretaker clothed differently than others, the same hat and apron style but adorned with red linings on the insets, entered the library and scanned the scene. Having appraised the situation, she quickly strode towards the ever-growing group of children, amassing against the tall figure of Ikuno.

"Children. Stop." She swiftly ordered while approaching the crowd among the reading desks. The little ones started looking at the woman, downcast, knowing that the beautiful moment was coming to an end.

Ikuno abruptly returned to reality and slightly panicked as she looked at the head caretaker realizing the mess she did: she had drawn everyone's attention. All the worse, she had been a Child too, so she was unconsciously completing with her imagination the Caretaker's eyes hiding behind the visor, coordinate to her lips clasped together in annoyance, further fueling her uneasiness.

"Everyone, return to read immediately." She gravely orders around. The small cluster recoiled in fear and quickly dispersed, leaving Ikuno without protection. The caretaker approached to stop in front of her, in her ominously towering height.

"You. You're not supposed to be here." She states in a borderline aggressive tone.

"I-I'm sorry…" Ikuno casted down her gaze to the ground, her face contrived by guilt and fear. She shifted her body nervously, trying to escape the shame while silently being squared from head to shoes by the severe woman with her arms crossed.

"You always were a strange child. I see you're not changed." She contemptuously states.

Ikuno stayed silent, not wanting to anger her any more, while in her mind she tried to recall who belonged that voice in her past, but nothing came to mind. The caretaker clearly remembered her, but she didn't remember ever listening to that voice.

The woman turned around and proceeded towards the entrance, opening it and showing her the door while keeping it open.

"Get immediately out of the building, otherwise I'm going to report you for trespassing."

"Yes, ma'am." Ikuno responded meekly, bowing her head and proceeding out of the library. As she walked out, the caretaker unceremoniously slammed the door behind her. The loud noise startled her as she returned to reality in the gleaming white corridor.

After briefly closing her eyes to calm her still nervous self, she sighed and turned right towards the exit, wanting to link back to her squad again. She started walking along the corridor, when she faced the window showing the inside of the library.

Ikuno shot a brief glance through the glass to discover that all the kids that were previously huddling around her were now seated again, all looking at the same window she was crossing. She stopped and responded to the stares: everyone was smiling sweetly at her, waving their hands. Hit by surprise, she stood there, lips parted, with the same feeling of warmth that left her now returning even stronger than before.

She saluted back, showing the most beautiful smile she ever made in her whole life.

…

* * *

…

A wide circular door splits in two and opens the ceiling above, letting in a blinding light. Ikuno narrows her maladjusted eyes, used to the Sphere One main lift's darkness, while a wide elevating platform, inching towards the main Sphere dormitory hall, is lifting her and Futoshi that are standing close to the trash cart placed in the center of the shaft.

Ikuno looks at her communicator, it's screen still showing the figure of Hachi typing distractedly away on his terminal. She then closes the screen, presses on the side of the handheld and a cylindrical mesh comes off from the side of it. She takes it in her hand and examines it: a wireless earbud meant to be worn as a hands-free headset. She slides it in her ear cavity and as soon as she hears Hachi's typing from it, she pockets the bigger device.

"I'll be guiding you through this." He states.

"Yessir."

"The camera systems don't pick him up roaming. It's been a while that I'm scanning the area, and it's very probable he remained inside his room the whole time since breakfast." He continues while still tapping on the desk while staring at the screen in front of him.

"Couldn't you watch inside the rooms?" Futoshi asks, wearing an earpiece like Ikuno's and resounding both close to her and in the call.

"Cameras are placed all around the complex, but only in strategic positions, like at the top of the sphere and in the main corridors." Hachi explains.

"Are the rooms not watched over?" Ikuno infers.

"That's avoided, mostly for retaining the mental health of the Parasites."

"Well, I'm glad about that…" Ikuno understands that feeling constantly watched while changing, or worse, was a very big inconvenience. No one in their right mind would be ever tranquil of his own actions if aware of being constantly judged under magnifying lenses, she considers.

"…Do we know where his room is, or where is he now?" Ikuno grows more agitated as the conversation progresses.

"Yes. Using his full code number, I can retrieve his biometrics to then make the security cameras scan the environment for his presence. Further access to 121's tracking data can determine his usual paths in the area. The end points of those paths lead usually to the zones he uses."

Ikuno shudders at the probably wondrous technology applied to the security of that place.

"Stand-by for now." Hachi informs them.

The elevator slowly continues its course towards the top. Ikuno undoes her butterfly clip and recombs her hair to reapply it higher on her head, reaches for her work uniform's leg side pocket, opens the zip and gets out a folded blue full cap hat. She unfolds it, takes off her glasses and places it on her head holding it by the beak, pulling it over her eyes and trying to fit her hair in. She looks at the cart and finds its contours slightly blurry as she stores her glasses away… she's like that at every distance, but she can still make out Futoshi's face.

He looks at her and gives her a thumbs up, all the while the lift now approaches the top, enclosed by a high fence around the elevator's shaft. As the platform levels with the floor, all of the Sphere's interior comes into view full of people looking at the structure appeared into nothing. Futoshi then gets out from a pocket an iron whistle and leans it on his lips, while the iron bars composing the fence lower down into the ground, disappearing flush into the ground.

Ikuno looks around discretely, then nods to Futoshi. He reciprocates her nod, takes a deep breath to discharge it into the whistle and a loud, acute chiming sound starts the trash collection of the Sphere.

Everyone turns towards the high-pitched sound and, realizing the situation, takes off to disappear into their respective rooms, to come out after a brief moment carrying full black trash bags. In no time, the suspended terraces fill of Parasites descending the stairs like a gray river, the color of their uniforms, upon the building's white background, transporting their share of unwanted things.

"Anything?" Ikuno asks.

"Not yet." Hachi efficiently responds.

After a minute, the crowd assembles in front of the cart. Futoshi operates a control panel next to the wheel to unfold its metal walls, making the bell slowly enlarge double its starting size and tilting it to the side. At that point, Ikuno gestures the crowd to help themselves.

"Please, proceed." At her signal, one by one, they close in and start throwing the closed trash bags into the cart's inverted bell. Suddenly, she is taken away again by Hachi.

"Update…" He resounds from the headpiece.

"Yes." Futoshi replies.

"I found his room. The stamen didn't come out." Hachi warns her. "We'll go and check it out anyways."

"Yessir." He looks at Ikuno and takes her place to the front of the crowd to make sure people don't mess up the gathering.

"Take the stairs to the third floor of the dormitory block to your left."

She does just that, walking with the most natural fashion, with her hat pulled down and avoiding getting close to the queue descending from it. Walking slowly up the main steps to get into the building and after taking the u-shaped stairs to the third suspended floor, Hachi guides her further.

"Turn left."

She obeys and walks down the main balcony, keeping the curtained rooms to her left and the railed ledge on the right, passing a group of late joiner Pistils holding precariously onto their trash sacks.

"Take the third corridor."

She counts the passing lateral corridors, then takes the third left turn down the road, into a dead-end bright hallway with six room entrances on its sides, all their curtains closed.

"Second one on the right. Don't make noise and don't be seen." Hachi advises.

As she difficultly tries to light-step on her boots, she proceeds towards the middle of the corridor while making sure she's not being watched. Then, she approaches the designated room and tries to lean in towards the divisive tent, trying to hear any noise coming from the inside.

"Now nod or shake with your head. Can you hear anything?"

A tomb-like silence was coming from the room, so Ikuno shakes her head left and right, noticing a small bullet camera down the corridor on the ceiling's corner, pointing at her.

"Ok." He confirms. A few seconds pass, then Hachi gives another order.

"Peek inside."

Ikuno nods, then her fingertips carefully extend towards the curtain while she bobs to the side, shooting an eye inside and avoiding exposing herself.

She discovers an empty, dark room. No one's there.

She pulls the tent further, and the room comes in her view: two beds, one opposite to one another on the sides of the room. On the bed on the left some books and a Parasite uniforms folded up, while on the right the bed was adorned with an additional pillow and a collection of teddy bears lined against the wall, rivalling that of Ichigo's, and a half-closed sack of trash lying on the far-right corner.

"Hachi, it's their room, and it's empty."

"What?" Hachi says surprised. "It can't be. Their last position suggested they never left the room…"

Ikuno blinked to his odd statement.

"Do a scan of the room and try to find his Pistil's code." He urges.

She complies and enters the room, switching on the light on the wall and wearing her glasses again. She looks under both the beds and finds their respective suitcases under each one. On the left she pulls out one marked with the code '121', and on the other one…

"723." She informs him.

"As anticipated. Now, search for anything suspicious."

"H-Hachi, w-why? This is not my stuff!" She whispers, incredulous. She was about to breach another Parasite's privacy! First, she entered a Stamen's room, something she would have never even thought about before, and now is about to search it… what the hell was she drawn into?

"As you told me, he's not behaving as instructed."

"What…?" She only said to him that…

"Please, do as I say. Trust me." Hachi firmly encourages her. She remains anxious, but she yields in a puff.

"Ok..."

So, she starts with opening the suitcases, revealing nothing out of the ordinary apart from male boxers, uniforms, socks, shower and dental care supplies.

"Gross…" She closes the Stamen's suitcase. Then she opens the Pistil one, and nothing out of the ordinary was found there too. Then, she looks over the side of the bed, and notices something strange… lying on the floor there were two crack opened breakfast trays, and an energy bar half-eaten lying on the floor beside it.

"What a waste…" She picks up the bar, deeming it unsalvageable, and without thinking, closes to the trash sack wanting to get rid of it.

"Oh, no-no!" She stops. Wouldn't she want to leave no traces of her passage?

"Found anything?" Hachi asks her, having heard her mumbling.

"Ah… They were having breakfast… then they… disappeared?" She whispers to him.

"Interesting."

She looms over it for a second, when… her nose picks up and irony scent. She inquiringly sniffs further in the vicinity to find that it was coming from the trash sack. In fact… its regular shape suggests that it doesn't contain those rigid food trays, the most commonly type of trash collected in the Spheres.

"What on earth…" She approaches it, and the scent transforms into a grave iron stench as soon as she gets closer.

"Oh-Wha-" That stench- it's familiar…

She opens the sack to see a big bundle of white cloths… drenched in…

"B-B..." She says, eyes open wide.

She lets go of the sack. That was…

"Blood." She mumbles, eyes fixated on a large red patch.

"What the…!" Hachi says while standing up, his roller chair zipping behind him loudly.

"B-Blood…" A feeble voice escapes her.

"Ikuno…?" Futoshi

"There's blood here…" She states with a trembling voice. "Too much blood…" She starts panicking.

Down the stairs, close to the cart, there's an aghast Futoshi holding his finger on his earpiece, processing that statement. A long second expires as his vision narrows and his heart starts pumping violently, as a rush of adrenaline kicks in once again and his brain locks shut. Without thinking, he grits his teeth and leaves the nearby Parasites like salt statues as he takes off, dashing like an athlete.

"Make way!" He shouts as he tackles the three ramps of stairs like it was nothing, three steps at a time, the crowd on them dividing like a sea. Once upstairs, he takes the third internal corridor on the left, to face the second room on the right.

He finds Ikuno lying against the wall covering her mouth and trying to suppress her gagging. Seeing Futoshi, she gets up and flees down the corridor holding both her hands on her mouth, losing her hat behind in the rush.

At the end of the room, the sack is now spilled over, revealing sheets painted of deep, brownish red. Futoshi clasps his fists as his thinking resumes to asks a single, grave question.

"What the hell happened here?"

…

* * *

 **A promised future - END**

* * *

…


	11. Chapter 11 :: World in a crayon

...

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

 **World in a crayon**

* * *

...

Kokoro attentively examines the entries on the organizer displayed on her wide tablet's screen held on her left forearm, slowly tapping on the interface to add items to the list in front of her.

"Hmmmm… let's see… a new pillow… toothpaste… shampoo. Is that all?"

Past her tablet, a red-headed girl with a flower hairpin in Pistil uniform stares at her peeking past the white tent drawn on the entrance of her room.

"Yes, please." She bows her head to the girl.

Kokoro smiles to her and slides her slender finger on the screen, dragging the digital list and dropping it in the interface container referencing that room, one among many organized in a column to the side.

She's in Sphere 1, in one of the four dormitory buildings dividing the Sphere equally each cardinal direction, scanning the row of external rooms of the third floor and noting down all the stuff the Parasites need for their daily activities.

"You have my code, right?" She asks the girl peeking.

"Yes… 556?"

Kokoro courteously nods.

"If you need anything else in the meantime, just message me. See you next time!"

"Thanks again, see you tomorrow!" She smiles back.

Both exchange waves, and the red girl disappears back inside. Kokoro then brings the tablet to her chest with both hands and proceeds with composed steps to the next room of the open corridor, fluttering her blonde-greyish long loose hair.

From the skylights, carved into the Sphere's curved walls in front of her, penetrating beams of daylight cut the air above the top of the dormitories, a multi-leveled vertical structure built on each cardinal direction of the Sphere's upper section. Each level consists of a main corridor, open like a terrace towards the center giving view to the other buildings, blocks of squared rooms divided by side corridors leading to dead ends and bathrooms, each one separated from the other by concrete walls and a thick, white curtain. Central to every floor, wide U-shaped set of stairs extends all the way to the bottom floor, where it's possible to use a wide straight staircase to descend into the empty central plaza.

She stops in front of the next white curtain and draws a breath.

"Hello, anyone here?" She calls to the room's owner.

No sign of a response.

"H-Hello?" She calls again, hesitant.

Suddenly, a Stamen with black, curly hair and a squared jaw with a straight nose, deep gray but bloodshot droopy eyes and wide, stretched eyebrows peeks from the tent. Still in his pyjamas, his unnatural white complexion makes Kokoro recoil from the surprise.

"What do you want?" He says locking eyes with her.

"Ah! Um…" She hesitates, keeping the tablet between her and the ghostly face.

"Uhhh… I'd like to ask if you're in need of…"

"…" He continues staring at her, without batting an eye.

"…A-a-anything…" She diverts her gaze to the side bouncing off from the imposing attitude of her interlocutor.

"No, thanks." He cuts short.

"A…Are you sure…? I won't be back until tomorrow…"

"I'm su-Ahhh!... Damn migraine…" He curses and recoils as he grips his forehead while holding onto the curtain, gasping for air while painfully cringing.

Kokoro's mouth opens and her eyes flash in understanding. "Are you in need of medicines?"

The Stamen's look softens while he waves his hand and massages his temples with his other.

"N-no, I've got some already…"

"Are you taken them as prescribed?" She softly inquires.

"Y-yes…" He recovers and looks at her sighing, still pinching his brows from the pain.

"If you need some more, just don't hesitate to call me. If it worsens, please go up the hospital for a check-up."

"Thanks… Code 556?"

"Yes… Call me Kokoro."

"Kokoro, eh..." He smiles, still a bit in pain. "Do you happen to know Goro?"

"Ah, yes! He's my squadmate..." She meekly says, surprised.

"Could you… please say hello to him for me? I'm Code 371. It's since about a week that I'm…" He cringes ever so slightly and nods his head towards his room's interior.

"Oh… of course!" She fidgets with her large tablet, almost using it to shield herself from the boy.

"Thanks." The Stamen bows her head to her.

"For n-now, be w-well!" She bows back and nervously takes her leave, turning to the side and quickly proceeding onwards. The Stamen of the room follows her with his pensive gaze and, when Kokoro disappears from his sight, he shifts back once again in the shade.

Kokoro sighs as she walks along the terraced hallway towards the next room. She startles and halts suddenly as a loud siren goes off, echoing all around the Sphere, then turns and peeks above the metal railing framing the open corridor's ledge to spot red led lights flashing at the center of the plaza down below, in front of each of the dormitories in a circular shape. The Parasites at the center of the room, talking and strolling, notice the intermittent lights and quickly wander off the platform. When they do so, the LEDs turn green, the siren stops, and curved metal bars rise from the outline of the circular mesh, closing into a spherical cage.

Everyone in the vicinity is doing the same as her, leaning on the railings to observe the event, or just peeking out of their room's tent, already anticipating what was happening. Kokoro takes notice of a quick movement from her side vision and turns her head: she sees a young Stamen running out of the room she was about to poll, in his gray uniform, almost the height of her chest line, stopping in front of the railing. Deep brown, unkept hair, lifting himself up on his toes to clear the parapet with his light-brown eyes, he looks down curiously to the maintenance lift access door, parting in two. His eyes widen and, not even noticing the long-haired girl, he quickly returns inside jumping the steps in front of the room to disappear past the heavy white tent dividing it from the corridor.

"Trash day!" An uncouth, happy voice could be faintly heard.

"A-Ah, sure…" A girl's voice resounds back, followed by rustling noises.

Kokoro turns back her gaze to the cage and, after some time, the elevator door parts in two. Slowly, the silhouette of a bell-shaped maintenance cart pops from the hole in the ground as a round platform levels with the plaza's floor. Besides the vehicle, she sees two blue figures… the big one is for sure Futoshi, as she can distinguish his brown-reddish parted hair. The other one is… Ikuno? She can't tell by the cap that she's wearing… She must be her, since she always volunteers for that duty.

Her attention returns to her surroundings: Parasites start bustling around, some gathering at the terrace to watch the opening cage down to the central plaza, some others talking while walking back to their room to return outside with black sacks. Futoshi blows his whistle to start the collection, and people streams towards the stairs leading to the ground floor.

Kokoro is fully aware that she can't continue her poll, then leans on the railing and opens the tablet screen to review what's left of her job. Today she managed to finish Sphere 2 really quickly mostly because she streamlined the process by giving out her code, so she could be contacted by her Communicator. All she ever has to do is compile all the info and forward it to Zorome and Mitsuru, that would deliver the stuff directly to the requesters.

She sighs, knowing her job is really… tiring at times. Kokoro wishes it would be easier than said…

The young Stamen returns outside keeping the tent open for his Pistil, that comes out with their trash container. Black long hair gathered in a loose tail, the girl… had the same white complexion of that creepy curled-haired Stamen earlier. She unsteadily descends the steps to her room with a contrived smile, almost as if in constant pain…

A brief lapse and the girl plumps down the steps on her side in a deaf thud, with the sack she was carrying spilling its contents on the floor, lying on her side, motionless.

Kokoro, after a long second, fumbles and lets her tablet almost fall to the floor. She hurriedly kneels to the ground at the fallen Pistil's side, as the young Stamen freezes in place with scared eyes and mouth open wide, shivering while dropping the tent he was holding onto.

"Are you ok?" Kokoro blurts in panic. "Did you bang your head?"

"Uhhh…" The Pistil weakly howls trying to prop herself back up with her elbow, and almost slides again on the white tiles. Kokoro supports her by her side to prevent her to go down again.

The Parasites all around stop on their tracks, witnessing the situation like salt statues. Kokoro shoots her glance at the surrounding crowd, opening her mouth to beg silently for help, only to be met with her same freezing fear in their eyes. The small boy snaps out from his daze and runs in shock to his Pistil, to make himself a pillar for her to hang on.

"N-no I didn't bang my head…Ah!" The Pistil winces her head with foggy eyes and unsteady breathing.

"Hang on to m-me!" The boy reassures her companion with his feebly trilling voice.

"Are you sure? Why are you in such pain!"

"It's happening since yesterday… out of the blue… my head feels like… it's gonna burst open..."

With the little boy's help, Kokoro manages to bring the girl upright on her knees. The girl cringes and massages her forehead, sighing painfully.

"Didn't you go to the hospital yet?"

"N-No…"

"Why?"

"Who… would take care of my… S-Stamen? T…The… Commander… told me…"

"But you need to be checked!" Kokoro utters at the doors of hysteria.

Why the hell everyone is in that state, she cries out loud in her mind. Everyone was fine earlier through the week! Is this a Parasite flu epidemic? What she's supposed to do?

Suddenly, she locks in place as waves of nausea clash on her chest.

Oh no, not again, she begs internally while summoning all her flimsy courage to fight back her recurring illness and bringing her hands to her mouth ready to force her mouth shut, pearled by a tear that found a way out of her scared, wide blue eyes, leaving a rivulet on her cheek.

Is… she going to be… the next?

"Do you need help?"

She turns her head the direction of the raspy voice and catches the face of the curled haired boy she met earlier, still in his decolored complexion and with complete disregard in still wearing in his white pyjamas. He's squatting at her side, frowning, his head angled down to peek over her distraught face. A long second, after which Kokoro exchanges his gaze silently.

"Y-yes…"

"If you want, I can call the hospital and get someone here…"

"Please!" She jumps forward and desperately grabs him by the collar, pushing him off his squat.

"Whoa! OK, OK, calm down now! I'm not in a good shape either, so don't shake me like that!" He retorts annoyed, pushing lightly on Kokoro's shoulders. She stabilizes her breathing and loosens the grip to let him stand. Kokoro reassesses herself, noticing she totally forgot about her sickness…

"Let us move the girl over there first." He points towards the steps the girl tripped on.

He gets up, and Kokoro follows him suit without hesitation.

"Let her lean on me." He orders the boy, that complies promptly. He shoulders the girl on one side, arching her arm over her shoulders, and Kokoro does the same the other side. They drag the black-haired Pistil over to the steps to let her carefully down.

"Thanks, 371…" The girl thanks the Stamen, still holding onto her head, sighing but recovered.

"Don't mention it. Guess you're a white as a blanket like me, huh!" He says while plumping beside her.

"Ahah… you and your _sick_ humour." She curls up the side of her mouth.

"Hmpf! You have your lame puns too…"

Both laugh at each other, bringing newfound levity to the previously difficult situation.

"Thanks…" The young Stamen timidly mentions to his older counterpart.

"You're welcome, boy." The squared-jawed Stamen says back to him while extracting his communicator from his pocket and pops up in mid-air its holoscreen.

"Thank you for helping." Kokoro bows to them. "I'll be going for now… If you need something, I'm always on duty."

"Sure!" The young boy fully smiles to her and his Pistil does the same.

Kokoro sighs in relief… Even though the two of them are one not better than the other, at least this time two sick people make a slightly healthy one… Turning around, she retrieves her wide tablet from the ground and glances a bit taken aback at the abandoned sack toppled by the girl.

"I'll be delivering that myself." She reaches over and shoves the trays spilled over back inside, then rotates the top and tightens it in a knot. "Please, don't overexert yourself and wait for one of the Parasites up in the hospital to arrive." Kokoro says while recomposing her feelings.

"Sure, leave it to me." Says 371 while fiddling with his communicator.

"Then, see you soon." After bowing again, the girl proceeds down the stairs saluted by the three Parasites.

She joins the descending stream of people carrying bags like her, slowly following the groups of two to three Parasites happily talking towards the fourth floor, sighing.

"Flowers were way easier to handle…" She meekly comments while slowly descending the stairs.

Following the U-turn of the ramp, she once again looks over the railings and notices that Futoshi's at the trash cart by himself- Ikuno maybe went somewhere else. Further descending, she reaches the ground floor, then she strolls into the plaza and reaches just behind the queue waiting to throw the garbage inside the bell, the sack in one hand and the tablet in the other. She really wishes she had something to carry that slab more comfortably…

Stuck in the queue, out of boredom, she gets up on her toes to level her eyes over the crowd's shoulders, trying to see what's Futoshi doing over to the cart. As he's looking her way, she waves his hand at him, but Futoshi at first tries to ignore her, but then returns her gaze with a contrived smile and waves her back.

Kokoro goes back on her heels, forlorn.

After a while, she goes on her toes again to try to observe him again and… he's just standing there, idling... immobile, with his back slouched and gaze fixed to the ground… and the hand on his other ear…

What's he doing?

Kokoro sees Futoshi's pensive face… slowly transforming into one of terror.

Kokoro tenses up, confused by his teammate's behaviour.

The metal whistle escapes Futoshi's hand and collides with the ground in a loud ring. He darts up a frantic face upwards the north dormitory building, opening his mouth like wanting to shout his lungs out in a vacuum.

A Pistil in the act of launching her sack freezes in place like the other Parasites all around, staring at his strange behaviour, then drops her sack in surprise when Futoshi savagely clamps his teeth and launches in a sudden dash towards the north dormitory.

Running like hell towards the stairwell, he howls "Make way‼" and the mass hurriedly divides in two as the Parasites are bumping into each other and goofily tripping on their own sacks. Futoshi strides up the stairs like a bull, tackling the climb three steps at a time and quickly disappearing up the stairwell.

"What the hell, man!"

"What's up with him? Is he mad?"

The Parasites utter in protest while Kokoro tails him with her scared stare, trying to process what was happening. An emergency? Ikuno…? She looks at the face of the building, finding it empty… Why?

She noticed Futoshi dropping something while running, so she leaves the sack on the ground and proceeds to go search for that small object. Finding it still on the ground, she picks up the strange cylindrical object.

"He dropped this…" She identifies the object as the earpiece of the communicator.

Maybe he was in contact with Ikuno and… something happened.

In her head flashes the image of her friend and teammate…

…White hair…

She remained injured from the Gran Crevasse battle! How couldn't she remember that!

Returning to reality, she finds all the surrounding Parasites being magnetized by the stairwell, looking up to try and discover why their teammate disappeared that way. In urgency, she runs to grab Futoshi's whistle and blows it immediatly.

"Excuse me…!" Kokoro says after getting the people climbing the stairs to stop. They turn to look at her and Kokoro almost panics at those many eyes staring, but quickly steadies herself, focusing on her next words to say.

"Please, continue… with the delivery, I'm going to check him myself." She says, spreading wide her arms to address everyone.

The Parasites stare at each other, then insecurely descend back to the plaza.

Kokoro then starts climbing the stairs fastest she could manage up to the third floor, stopping at the landing in front of the open corridor to get the air back in her lungs, bent in two by her muscles aching.

"How… did he… whew… climb… this quickly…" She protests in gasps. He doesn't remember him being that much athletic at all!

She catches her breath and pushes herself upright on her knees, then she enters the corridor to look around. Left of her, she finds an Ikuno sitting curled on the ground against the cement lid where the railing was affixed, alone, with her hand pressing on her mouth. Kokoro runs towards her shouting, worried.

"Ikuno!"

The white-haired rocks her head up and shoots a painful glance to her friend, her cinder long hair dancing left and right from her messy running.

"Did you feel sick!?"

"N-no." Ikuno stares away from her.

Kokoro slides on her knees to her and covers her hand to feel her forehead.

"I said I'm OK." Ikuno tilts to the side and shields his face from Kokoro being overly fond of her temperature.

"Don't lie to me! Are you sure!" She flowerily worries while she feels her cheeks.

"Y-yes…" Ikuno blushes slightly and escapes her caring hands.

She hesitates, then she turns her head the other way and points her earlobe with her finger, showing her the earbud she's wearing.

"A-Ah! Futoshi dropped this!" She digs into her skirt pocket and gets out Futoshi's.

Ikuno nods and raises the thumb to her, then looks away and asks away to seemingly an imaginary person.

"Can we tell her?"

A short while in which Ikuno stops in place to listen in to the comms, then she suddenly locks eyes with her.

"Wear that." She tells Kokoro pointing the earbud she was holding.

Kokoro stares at her blinking, then her gaze flutters on the earpiece on her hand. So, she twirls it in her fingers to orient the cone-shaped rubber end towards her to place it in her ear cavity.

From its audio feed she hears fast tapping on a surface…

"H-Hello?" She intrudes.

The tapping stops.

"…Greetings, Code 556."

Kokoro startles and identifies the deep voice as Hachi's.

"H-Hello sir!" She straightens her spine, and her eyes wander off focus.

"There's… a _certain situation_ I'd like to inform you about."

She freezes in place. Situation?

"I-Is this a serious thing…?"

"Yes."

Kokoro's lips part. She knew it the moment Futoshi dashed up that stairs, didn't she?

"Do you want to help?"

"Of course! I-If I can be of help… I'd be happy to… Anything!" She demonstrates intensely.

"Mh…" Hachi wanders a little. "…Are you sitting right now?"

"Y-Yes…" Kokoro wavers, a little tense.

But her lower lip starts to tremble.

A brief pause.

Then, in his usual neutral tone, he asks her the last question.

"Can you promise me you will stay calm?"

…

* * *

…

Futoshi stands at the entrance of the room immobile, his gaze fixed on the sack lying toppled on the floor with his mouth hanging open in a stiff expression. Then, shaking off his passiveness, he turns around to close the entrance curtain and switches on the ceiling lights of the room.

This MUST be kept secret from everyone. As Hachi ordered.

Is Ikuno OK? Was she just sickened because of those sheets? In fact, the air is so rotten that Futoshi is compelled in pinching his own nose. He's worried about her running off like that, but he can't expect to be constantly on her shadow. He knows perfectly she can pull her weight… this time, a bit of alone time is better.

Open and searched suitcases, the previously well-made beds now ruffled for being searched and a line of disorderly placed teddy bears on the left one… How did Ikuno see this room before she started searching?

Why that much blood on those sheets?

First thing first… lets… dig this sack out…

Oof. His forehead starts to pain a little, maybe he banged it while he bashed down the door earlier… That, or the smell is getting to him more than he would admit.

Futoshi shudders at the mere thought, but someone has to do this.

He slowly closes to the sack and extends his hand to get grab the white and red…

A flash.

White.

Red.

Red over white.

Everywhere.

Futoshi's head split in a sharp fit of pain.

"Ah-!" He protests while recoiling backwards. "What the hell…?" Futoshi grabs his chest, tightening into his fast and brief breathes, trying to regain control of his consciousness.

"What…"

What was that?

In his vision, in a brief moment, everything painted white with spots of deep red. Futoshi felt he went to another place like he was removed from his body. Impossible, since he's still standing in the same room, grey walls with the same beds, bright as day. He blinks repeatedly, confused...

Disregarding that sudden ache, he shakes his head and then keeps looking at the bloodied white sheets lying on the floor, feeling a little uneasy. Why isn't he bothered of the smell anymore? He kneels down and reaches with his hands to pick up the sheet lying on the floor to open it wide with both hands.

"A pillowcase?"

The thick cloth has a single, big spot of liquid blood and doesn't feel it has been used yet, like it just came out from the automatic iron press.

"This is unused."

He places down the stained pillowcase and goes to the beds to feel the bed sheets it was made with.

"Those are used for sure… They didn't change their beds with the weekly spare blankets."

He returns to the sack and digs into it, careful in not dirtying his hands. Inside he finds more stained sheets, this time those were more heavily and erratically blood stained: another pillowcase, two mattress covers and two bed sheets in the same state.

"Those are unused, too…"

He stops when he reaches the bottom, where the rest of the menial things they used in the earlier day was compressed. Various snack wraps, dirty disposable food trays, cutlery, paper handkerchiefs, bottles, some crumpled pieces of paper with drawings on it- wait, the little girl draws?

Futoshi grabs a ball of what seems to be paper out and straightens it on the floor in front of him. It was a childish crayon-colored depiction of the little girl and other Children playing with a ball in the plaza down below, as he can make out the shape of the dormitory's view from there drawn on the backdrop…

"She plays with others."

He can ask around for her too. But for now, one thing was in his mind that he just couldn't ignore. Where did the blood came from? You bleed if you're injured, so… Maybe the Stamen inadvertently injured himself and ran with his Pistil upstairs to the hospital? Or the Pistil maybe dropped a milk teeth, since she's very young… or cut herself while playing…? But you can't drop that much blood for a scratch that's for sure! Then, they had something big to fall onto, or cut really badly themselves with? Like… a tool or a knife…? That's impossible! Only plastic cutlery is allowed here, and there's no way you'd cut yourself with that.

Futoshi scratches his head while sitting crossing his legs, then he takes the drawing off the floor, folds it and puts it in his pocket. He gets up, leaving the other stuff on the floor, and faces the bed of the Stamen. Unfortunately, he can't be sure of what happened until he finds the reason for that… incident.

I guess the Stamen taking care of her is responsible, one way or another.

He lifts the cushion, checks its contents, removes the blanket and cover then lifts the mattress on his side to open it and removes the internal mattress foam.

Nothing.

"If you do a search, you have to do it properl-… Ouch!" That sharp pain hits him again, and the mattress falls back down as he grabs his temples with both hands. "Be good, head of mine!" Futoshi protests as he quickly recovers.

Turning to the Pistil's bed, he starts removing the cushion, and under it there's a box of crayons and a drawing book.

"Yup, yup!" He smiles. "This is going with me, maybe she has drawn something of her situation with that strange 121 guy." He talks to himself satisfied.

He takes both crayons and book to place it on the floor, to then repeat the same search with her bed.

"Well… sorry about this…" He says in a not-so-sorry tone while undoing the Pistil's bed to check for hidden things, finding again nothing. Then, he proceeds to check all the plushies for any hole or zip openings.

"Why am I even do this…" He shakes his head. "This is not a per- OW!"

He cringes and squeezes his eyes, his head aching once again like someone shot a needle in his skull.

"This room! I hate it!" He vehemently protests of being constantly in pain.

As soon he recovers from the stars popping behind his eyelids, he makes to throw the plushie away. About to launch it back on the bed, he stops. Something slimy on the surface of the soft short fur of the teddy bear feels against his thumb.

"Oh…" He opens his eyes to look at the stain.

As he's used in being injured during his Stamen service, he knows what's blood or not. And that black spot on the teddy bear looks like wet blood.

"…The one hurt might be the Pistil." He states.

…

* * *

…

Ikuno lowers her head and stares Kokoro directly in her eyes looking for a confirmation on her friend's sad gaze, pointed on the stained teddy bear placed on the floor in front of her. In a vacant room close to the Parasite couple's one, Futoshi finishes his explanation of what he found in that room that could be of help, while sitting in front of both.

"…I understand." She weakly says, her chest slowly expanding with her breath.

"…And then, I found this under her pillow." Futoshi hands the drawing book in front of her. She takes a deep breath, then extends her hand and grabs it off from his hand.

Kokoro gets it with both hands and opens it slowly, twirling the pages with her thumb to quickly see its contents. More than half of the book was full of drawings… she closes it with a -clap-. Under the surprised stares of her teammates she gets up, proceeds over the room's corridor, then looks over the curtain Futoshi closed when coming out.

"…I remember them. They were that couple…" Kokoro turns around and exchanges both their gaze.

"Earlier this week, Code 121 requested some things… Nothing dangerous." She walks over to her tablet placed on the unused bed and flicks open the screen, then selects the weekly request list of that room.

"He asked for a change of bedsheets, soap, new toothbrushes, a pair of underwear for her…"

Ikuno slightly blushes.

"What the hell?" She protests. Those are dangerous!

"I-It's ok… they were trained to do that, right…?"

"Correct." From their communicators' headsets appears Hachi's voice, who overheard the conversation. "The new Nana, helped by other manservants from the Garden, instructed everyone that had a young Pistil how to take care of them. That was before the Gran Crevasse battle, after they were assigned together, a month ago. You can't expect Children of their age to be self-sufficient."

Kokoro nods. "I was told, because I met them all."

Ikuno and Futoshi sigh out of their newfound smiles. That was a good thing to hear! Having someone that knows the situation at the dormitories is exceptionally useful.

"Did you know about that Parasite couple too?"

"Yes… The Parasites also knew them, they were like any other couple. He is a little brash and has a certain bad character, but he's very kind with her. No one ever heard something strange of them. She was happy the times I visited them, always drawing something…"

Kokoro's sides of the mouth turns upwards for a brief moment, to then fall back down.

"I wonder what happened to them… How did they disappear?"

"People just don't disappear under the cameras." Futoshi retorts.

"Maybe after the handout they went to the hospital?" Kokoro suggests.

That was the simplest suggestion ever made, and one of the most likely. Ikuno's face illuminates at that possibility, since that would end the search immediately.

"That's right! In case of an incident, they would go there for sure!"

"If they did, they would be picked up by the security cameras. The system didn't track any of the two leaving the room." Hachi stops Ikuno in her tracks.

"Even at the hospital?" She wonders.

"Yes, especially the hospital, because it's designed to have top notch security for the personnel inside and for the health of the patients."

"…" A dull silence from the three signals Hachi to be more explanatory.

"Usually, in hospitals, Adult top doctors are tasked to manage the wards, so security is extremely high. Including security holographic doors and scanners. It's very unlikely that they went there without being scanned."

"I can't believe he didn't take his Pistil to get first aid…" Kokoro says worried. "That would be the first thing if my Stamen would be hurt…" She meekly glances Futoshi under her bangs.

A moment of silence from Hachi's part, then he picks up his commander attitude once again.

"We're going against time. The blood was wet, meaning the incident happened fairly recently. Given the quantity of blood you reported, the Pistil's life is probably in danger. Since the behaviour of the Stamen is extremely suspect, that indicates he has some responsibility in the matter."

Ikuno swallows down her throat her uneasiness.

"Remember: the objectives are to find the disappeared couple, assess whether they are in danger or not and report back immediately. I'm now going to watch the raw live feed of the camera down the corridor, about the time when the breakfast handout started. For now, just stand-by and wait for my analysis to be done. After that, I'll point you towards a search zone."

"Just one thing before that. Code 196, I task you to get in touch with Code 013 and explain him with the situation on the field and coordinate with him for quick medical attention."

Ikuno nods away. "Yessir."

"Any questions?"

"Sir. Question." Futoshi asks.

"Granted." Hachi says.

"Do the cameras have fac-Ow!" Futoshi feels a sharp pain in his head. "Ehh-" He massages his head.

"What happened?" Hachi asks impassable.

Ikuno looks at him strangely. "Are you in pain?"

"Ah, just a little pain fit in my head." He justifies himself.

Kokoro instead looks at him extremely preoccupied and grabs his head with her slender fingers.

"Are you sure? Is it the first time happening?" She anxiously questions.

"Y-yes!" Futoshi blushes a little while her soft hands massaging his temples.

"Does it hurt if I touch you?" She starts feeling the surface of his head, trying to find eventual bumps.

"N-no!" Now Futoshi's face colors intensely like a tomato.

"…I know. You should come over to the doctor that's coming over at the east dormitory. A Pistil has headache too, maybe he could scan you." She softly says.

Ikuno looks away, feeling out of place.

"Well…" He wavers at her offer. "We have other important stuff to do…"

Kokoro releases him, albeit still worried about his pain.

"If you have the chance, do so. Head injuries aren't to be underestimated." Hachi orders. "What did you wanted to ask anyway?"

"Uhhh… Actually… nevermind. Just a spur of the moment…" Futoshi wonders.

"Well then, for now that's all. Out." Hachi closes the communication.

The trio look to each other and then gets up from the room's floor, pulling off the earbuds from their ears (Futoshi having received back his own) and one after the other returning outside.

"Ok then… We have what to do. See you later!" Ikuno sends off his companions, then returns inside.

…

* * *

…

The looming fan noises of the AC vibrates through the cool air of a luxurious office with a library on both sides. Placed between a glass wall offering the Spheres' aerial view and a cherry wood curved desk, filled with a terminal and loads of large books, a large red synthetic leather boss chair titled backwards.

Sitting onto the chair and extending his legs onto the side of the desk as support, Hisui is talking with his audio communicator in a tense tone.

"Sure, Ikuno. Weren't you given one? Well… I'll send you a number to dial through…"

"Thanks, 013."

"Ah, no biggie. Aaand, if you'd like, since I'm gonna bust a vein from the pressure up in here, I'll be happy to take a walk and check the room out with an assistant, so I can be also close at hand. If that was a lot of blood, then I'd like to take a _very_ good look at it."

"W-why?"

"Let's say these days Parasites are constantly visiting the hospital with very strange migraines. Some of them are unable even of walking from the pain and I'd like to know more of this, even at the point of storming into one's room."

He flips his thumbs in a circular motion, hands joined.

"Recently, many of our volunteers are hanged up on going back and forth the Spheres. I hope Hachi is aware of what's happening there, health-wise."

"I don't have the confirmation, but I think he's not."

Hisui snickers in disdain and bumps the table with the palm of his hand.

"I knew it! Always spying everything like a Guard, but knowing essentially nothing about what he's seeing."

"…You would?" Ikuno inquires defiant.

"Hmpf, yeah I would." Hisui says with a frown.

"…How?"

"I'd get out of my desk and figure it out, instead of staying on that ivory tower of his. Now if you'd excuse me, I'm gonna prepare to get downstairs."

"One more thing… What about Ichigo and Goro?" Ikuno asks worried. "Are they still there? I can't find them on the comms."

"Ah, I almost forgot. Goro didn't feel that good, so he got in bed. Ichigo's at his side, too." He states with a detached tone.

"WHAT?" Ikuno gets louder in reaction to the surprise news about his teammate and her friend.

"What 'what'? You guys are busting out 14 hour shifts every day! Are you kidding me?" Hisui tilts himself back up on his chair and leans on the desk while talking animatedly. "I guess that girl really likes to slave drive!"

"D-Don't you dare! Ichigo helped us all! We're doing this by our volition!" Ikuno heats up her tone.

"Yeah sure, but what happens if you burn out? Or you're tangled by priorities or bigger problems than yourself? Who distributes the food? Or worse, changes the water?"

"We're just gonna push through! We always did that!" Ikuno bravely states.

Hisui takes ahold of his head thinking how just _bad_ their mentality was.

"Push through _what_? Do you think this is a military operation? No, it's not! This is a different type of fight! _You can't do this on your own_!"

He lies his elbows on the table to support himself.

"Do you think the objective is to kill some Mohorovich class roaming around and everyone's a helpless Adult that can't even get up in the morning? Did you ever stop and acknowledge this is not just the fight of Plantation 13 and that everyone has a stake in this? We're all in the same boat!"

"W-We are the only ones that have experience in this! No one except us knows how to do anything here, how this place would even function without our work!" Ikuno utters her desperate rebuttal.

"You're right there, absolutely right! But please, hear me out for a second. Do you remember the medical camp at Gran Crevasse?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know I was the only competent person in the entire medical camp?"

"What are you saying…? We all had a course on basic medical training…"

"No, that's not it! Do you know how to sew someone on the field? How to search a vein and perform an unassisted injection on someone? What treatment to give knowing a vague medical report? Performing a cardiac massage by hand?"

"Why…"

"A Stamen was looking at me, kneeled against a litter, completely lost, incapable of staunching even a wound. Later that day that same Stamen was applying Blood EVs better than everyone that ever studied on the books, and he looked like he could take on the world!"

"When a stream of injured filled the beds, do you think I just 'pushed through' and took everything by myself? No, because everyone would have died! Instead, I gave everyone a piece of my knowledge, making them capable of pulling their weight. And guess what, they were literally begging me! They wanted to fight too! You just have to give them a choice, an opportunity, a way to improve themselves! I can understand why people in the Spheres are breaking down, they are left alone, scared!"

"How… did you know? Were you given books…?" She asks confused.

"I became a medic quite long ago. And, you know, I'm STILL teaching the Stamens and Pistils that volunteered to cure their teammates that day!"

"Long ago…?" Ikuno's voice fills with wonder. "Just how old are you…?"

"Yeah, look…" Hisui mellows his tone. "I'm 24 years old."

"A-Ah?"

"You're… 15, close to 16, right?"

"…" Ikuno tensely pauses. "Are you… an Adult?"

Hisui freezes on the spot, trying to process the question, his eyebrows arching upwards. Then, realizing what Ikuno asked, his mouth fills with laughter.

"Oh-ah? AHAHA! What? Adult? Me? What the hell?"

"Eh-Wh…?"

"I'm a Stamen like any other! Didn't I fight with all of you at the battle?"

"Y-Yeah, you did… I saw your FranXX. A black, standard one."

"I'm also trained as a medic."

"How? W-why…? Why are you a medic… and also a Parasite?"

Hisui recoils and his perplexed brows squeeze together. Then, his expression paints in seriousness.

"Oh… I see… No one ever told you. Well, forgive me for my laughter then. I didn't know…"

Hisui grabs his chin and his gaze wanders around, unfocused. The situation is graver than he thought.

"Well, we've got something important to talk about, then. First though, the couple…"

"…Yes."

"I'll be down with someone in no time. If you want, after all of that and after the situation is resolved, you can get to my office to continue this conversation."

"All right."

"Also, sorry for my short fuse, earlier I tried to talk about this to Ichigo and she burst like a volcano, so I was still quite angry..."

"No problem. I understand where you're coming from."

"For now, let's leave at that." Hisui tries to cut short the conversation.

"Sure. I'll be in touch if I find anyone."

"Good. Later."

Hisui closes the communication.

Hisui shoots his vexed eyes upwards and lets himself fall on the chair's back, reclining it almost level with the ground. He closes his eyes while slowly exhaling, summoning his non-existent ability of passing out at will. He massages his temples, then sighs out a mellow lament.

"Just kill me now."

After a while, he opens his eyes and the ceiling tiles' complex patterns of flowers and green tendrils sprawling like ivy welcome him.

"Dr. FranXX, what the hell you've signed me up to…"

…

* * *

…

Ikuno furiously mashes the end call button on her communicator and lets out a growl of pure rage!

"What the hell! That guy! I HATE THAT GUY! UGHHHHH‼ He makes me MAD!"

The walls vibrate due to her voice while she pinches her nose, slamming the hand holding the communicator on the unused bed's mattress on which she's sitting on with a -THUD-.

"Who the hell that guy thinks he is? UGH! He makes me SICK!" She lashes out. Then, exhales violently and lies down on her side trying to quell her spirits. She's still in the room at the end of the corridor that her, Futoshi and Kokoro choose as the meeting room to avoid prying ears and eyes. It's isolated, so she's positive no one heard her, even at that banshee-like volume.

"He's right, though…" Ikuno admits with extreme disdain. All this time they didn't even thought about the long term. They just reclined their heads forward and powered through everything without a thought about the situation. Now that she's pinned in the Parasite couple's search, she can't continue to collect the garbage. So, who's going to do it in her stead? No one. And that's just under -one- urgent task.

At least Goro managed to rally someone to help him in his endless cleaning and taught them the ropes... he did good in that regard. But that was menial job. If Ichigo delegates someone else, for example, the machinery cleaning, who knows what would happen? Could she give that task to someone she… trusts?

Yeah… trust. She remembered Hachi didn't even told them why they were doing all those things in the first place. He's the one teaching and really leading them, and one thing he didn't teach them was… to build trust.

"I was supposed to trust them…" Ikuno repeats what Hachi said to himself during the call in the lift. If Futoshi wouldn't have gone off the line and asked more details about the task, she would have been completely in the dark about everything. But… now that she thought about it, it has always been like that.

No one ever told them the truth, no one ever explained them the situation they were in, the world they were mashed into and the service they were doing. All they ever needed was a boarding house in a cage and orders to follow, no questions and no answers.

Now they made the dormitories their boarding house, the Spheres their cage. With Hachi thinking everything and giving their fair share of orders to follow, everyone's happy in their element doing the bidding of someone else and having or avoiding any stake on the battle, moving with no motivation at all other than to indulge the Adults and getting praise...

Nothing's changed. They built a cage for themselves, again.

"Damn…" She digs her face into the mattress, cowering in a fit of shame. "Not again…"

Ikuno wrestles with her mind a bit, then takes a critical decision.

That cage must be torn open.

"This can't be going forward any longer. I need help. Everyone should help and be helped."

She doesn't know why Hachi wants to make her wait, but they need more information to try and wrap around the things they found in the room. And for sure, some camera recordings don't say anything about those following questions:

Who was this Code 121? Why being so unapproachable? Did he have some kind of problem?

And his Pistil, Code 723? Why is she attached to him, if he's such a jerk?

How did the Pistil get injured? Why didn't they call for help afterwards?

She feels completely alone. So, first she will search for help to understand those two and why they're behaving the way they do. Second, she _needs_ to find those two poor souls quickly, because that much blood means only trouble.

That's a start.

The help of whom? Certainly, from someone that knows what's up in Sphere 1 and knows about those two in particular.

Kokoro knows everyone's faces... She's in.

What about the others?

She doubts Mitsuru and Zorome would know more than Kokoro. They frequent a lot the storage units downstairs, so it's a no-no.

Miku doesn't have a fixed task. And she lives in Sphere 3.

Goro's out of service… heh. Poor boy.

Ichigo's always fixed on her tablet and tends only to visit the command building…

Asking to the other Parasites is really in order, is it? She feels scared of asking other people in general because she doesn't know what to expect from them - she tried to escape from that fear, but now she can't just brush away the help people that live in this dormitory with that Stamen couple. Especially…

She lifts herself off the mattress as an illuminating idea strikes her with powerful force.

"Especially their neighbours!"

She springs up from the bed and strides along the corridor, towards the front of the dormitory where she leans on the terraces to see how's going the delivery down below. She hopes no one had problems delivering their share, and in marvel, she discovers that the queue considerably shrunk as some Parasites decided to help throwing inside the sacks for those that didn't manage to. Everyone is now returning to their rooms in a relaxed manner and, coincidently, a brown-haired Pistil wearing a fracture brace on her forearm comes strolling towards her from the stairs.

"H-Hi…! Good morning…" Ikuno approaches the Pistil waving, equipping the earnest smile she can muster, impeded a little by her embarrassment.

"Hello! You're a Plantation 13, right?"

"Yes."

"What happened? Why did your teammate escape like that? Ehm… Furoshi, right?"

"Futoshi. I had a problem, actually…"

Ikuno isn't really lying, is she?

"Ah! I see! Are you OK now?"

"A-Ahah! Yes, that one is gone now. But now I have another one..."

"Oh…" The Pistil's expression slightly bends in worry. "Could I help…?"

Why the hell she thought it was hard?

"Ehhh, yes actually. It's about the couple living in that room over there - do you know them?"

"Oh, yes! 121 and 723, right? I live the room just before theirs." She points at the curtained room in front.

Ikuno's eyes beam. "Did you see them recently?"

"Ah-you mean today? Yes, at breakfast! I saw your friend pulling him by the sleeve for asking breakfast twice! Such strict rules…"

"Well, we're on rations to be honest… And after that? Did they return to their room?"

"I actually don't know. I ate on the stairs with my squad…" She presses her lips. "What… happened to them?"

"Ah… they… left." Ikuno confesses.

The Pistil widens her eyes in surprise. But then she slumps her shoulders, downcast.

"Ah… I see. Maybe they changed rooms…"

"Why would you think that?" Ikuno feels she's catching onto something.

"He's… quite the antisocial guy. Maybe I did really piss him off…"

"Really?"

"Y-Yeah… Yesterday afternoon I talked with her Pistil while she was drawing in the front of his room… and he didn't take it gladly."

"Wa-Was he being aggressive?"

"Yes..." She smiles, embarrassed. "He barked at me to get off his Pistil and told her to draw inside the room."

"Oh wow, I see. What the hell, that guy…"

The feeling she had while confronting him was warranted.

"What did he have?"

"I wouldn't know… I was a bit scared about talking to him."

"I'd be, too. He didn't feel like a pushover earlier."

"But you have such a steady hand! You clashed with him head on!" The Pistil smiles at Ikuno that reflexively smiles back, somehow glad for the compliment.

"…What about her? Was she different from her usual?" Ikuno presses.

The girl's gaze clouds by a mist of fear and astonishment.

"Yes. She… became different too."

Her eyes dart around, trying to give sound to her deep-buried thoughts.

"S-she was always so energetic! She would always wear a smile, dart around to go and find the Children of her age. She was the soul of this dormitory… Then…"

Ikuno hangs to her lips, eyes peeled.

"In a matter of days, she smiled less and less, at the point that she started skipping going to collect breakfast… She would stay on her own, gloomy… Drawing all day. When I approached her, I did so because… she was crying."

Ikuno nods pensive, her gaze shifting to the side.

This picture is shaping into a nightmare.

"Thanks... for telling me."

"No problem… Please, if you see them, could you tell me? I'm there if you need me…" She points to her room close by.

"Sure, I'll be in touch."

Both exchange their salutes, then Ikuno follows with her gaze the Pistil returning to her room and disappearing behind its thick divider curtain.

So, it was well worth it. She already knew some things; some others were extremely worrying.

The Stamen became aggressive very recently, to the point of freaking out the people around him and those approaching his Pistil. Why? Was he stressed by something? Something must have happened, she didn't know him but there's always a reason for everything.

Also, why the Pistil became suddenly sad and unsociable? Was it because of him being irritable, and that change saddened her? Are those things connected somehow?

Wait…

Was he… lashing out on her?

Ikuno's imagination suddenly shifts to her earlier dream, superimposing her thoughts.

Two hands, gripping a small neck.

Rage.

Violence.

Blood.

Ikuno's heart suddenly races and her hand darts to the side trying to grab the handrail of the terrace, her senses coming to a grinding halt before ejecting her consciousness from her imagination. She leans on the railing, feeling her legs giving in and her lungs shuddering at each breath, being filled by strong waves of terror and guilt.

She clenches the rail and steels herself, her emotions still warmongering in her beating chest tensing like a vibrating steel cord, trying to stand her ground. She feels her cheeks being caressed by a tear, so wipes her face with the sleeve of her overalls while her shoulders tremble.

"Excuse me, are you ok?" A worried voice from behind her.

She turns, and a Stamen was looking at her with a follow of five other Pistils and Stamens, all very preoccupied about the white-haired girl painfully leaning against the railing and giving them a tear-laden glance.

"I-It's n-nothing!" She panics out of shame and quickly runs into the nearby internal corridor, escaping from the worried Parasites. They recoil from her fleeing, then stare at each other in apprehension.

She enters once again the room where she, Futoshi and Kokoro went for some privacy, desperately having the same need as before. She launches on the bed and burrows her face into the naked mattress, gripping its side and letting herself cry onto its rough fabric with an intensity she never shown before. With her laments being suffocated, she lets out every inch of emotional strain she had accumulated, liberating herself from the grave burden her mind accumulated just in the recent hour.

Or in the recent days… maybe years.

"S…Sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" She begs on, almost crumpling the stiff mattress to contain her shape like a body pillow. She goes on sobbing for a while her fibrillating breath lashing her slender frame and a wet stain of tears forms against her contrived freckled cheeks.

After a while, her breathing relaxes and her arms release the grip on the mattress as the stream of tears slowly comes to a halt. She lies prone on the mattress, letting her empty and clear mind untainted as much as she can. Then, tired of lying down, she helps herself sitting in a big sigh. Leaning on her left arm, she breathes in and out softly…

Sometimes, you need to let something out.

In fact, her head was lighter than before. She felt every inch of her body relaxed, her mouth ever so slightly curves back to a meek smile even if her deep green eyes are still bloodshot from the weeping. She deeply breaths, then undoes her white hair removing her butterfly clip, falling unbridled above her shoulders. Sitting upright, she darts her look around the room where she spots the girl's stained teddy bear on her drawing book lying on the floor. She leans over and lifts the drawing book on her lap, digs in her side pocket for her glasses - glad they didn't bend - and wears them on her nose.

She opens the book and glances on the drawings, slowly flipping pages from the oldest to the most recent. The drawing of her in the Garden, her holding hands with her Stamen, then one about her piloting in the Pistil position, images of other black FranXX battling blue Klaxxosaurs with orange spears, a big Genista and a cutely drawn Argentea smashing into a mass of blue and violet… things.

Ikuno smiles at the fervid imagination of that little girl. Her drawings were quite detailed, and the well-drawn lines are showing how much she likes drawing. In fact, the book was almost full.

She likes drawing especially her and her Stamen hand in hand. Then, flipping pages of her drawing Klaxxosaurs of improbable shapes and her daily activities, comes a very detailed drawing of her Stamen hugging her. That's cute!

It almost looks unreal that 121 might have brought violence on her by the amount of drawing she made of her depicting him and…

…Oh, no…

Flipping the page over, she uncovers a drawing of the girl's room, colored in shades of red.

The floor, red. Same with the walls, her teddy bears, the ceiling...

Her clothes…

The pages were dotted by black spots.

Her tears.

That was the drawing she was making when the girl before approached her. Looking closer, it was never finished as there were uncolored spots and glaring blank spaces in the picture, something she never did before in her drawings.

Ikuno's throat lumps, but she quickly clears by swallowing her insecurities.

She would not let her tears go unanswered.

She darts up and, pinching her glasses against her nose, takes the book and the teddy bear, then strides confidently towards the couple's room. She enters it, finding it messy as Futoshi left it. Plushies lying helpless on the floor, the mattresses pulled out of their covers, crayons spilled from their box.

She deposits the drawing book on the floor and places the stained plushie on it.

Raising her head towards the white and red sheets, she cringes violently.

Ikuno has never been good with blood. Even her own made her extremely sick just by looking at it.

But this time, she stares it down like an eagle, challenging its eerie presence while clasping her fists.

Then, she turns to find her cap still on the floor from when she dashed out in horror. She picks it up and wears it, then walks confidently out of the room.

Her squared glasses could not hide her determined eyes, looking forward.

She's going to the bottom of it.

…

* * *

…

After some loud knocks at the office's door, Hisui brings his head upright. He wanders his dozy gaze at the door made of cherry wood while lifting his upper body off the little space left on his desk he was sprawled onto to close his tired eyes for a while. He recomposes himself, slapping his cheeks together several times, then he speaks up.

"Come in."

The door opens by half, and a pair of wide, sly, downturned eyes with deep blue iris belonging to a Pistil in teal medical uniform appear leaning over the door to greet him. She has brown, tendent to deep violet, long hair falling straight then curving at the points, with her bangs gathered behind her head with a hairpin. Her thin brow and her full-lipped mouth curled in a slight grin, she waves cordially her hand to him.

"Hello, chief! I'm ready with the tools."

"Hi, 042. Sure, coming over." He gets up and strides towards the girl, adjusting his white coat.

He goes out of the office and closes the door behind him, then proceeds down the corridors with the Pistil assistant following him just behind him, carrying a medical suitcase in her left hand.

"Do you need help?" Hisui turns to ask to him.

"No, it's OK, 013." The girl waves the suitcase effortlessly to demonstrate that.

"Apparently, now I'm named Hisui."

"Whaaat? Who named you?"

"A P13."

"Whew, that's an achievement!" She exclaims thrilled.

"I just asked." He states bluntly.

"Do you feel different?" The Pistil jokingly asks.

"I don't know. _They_ feel different, though. Way more than we were."

"Uh! Really! Why did you ask to be named?"

"I felt… inspired by them. They started acting like they owned the place, and they sure did. Meeting, organizing, working… they didn't need any Adults to tell them what to do. They just took initiative, asked Hachi to teach them the ropes and then did their thing. You know, no one's perfect, they still need to file some very rough edges, but nonetheless they tried harder than anyone else to create their own place to live."

"Ah! I see. Did the Hiro guy name you?" The Pistil leans over his shoulder with a conceited look.

"No." Hisui cringes.

"Oh." She says disappointed, slumping her shoulders. "Wasn't he the guy that started the naming thing between the younger ones?"

"Yeah… but I didn't feel like asking him."

"Whoa, what happened? Did he step on your toe getting off the bed?"

"Eh- no, he's… different. Too much different. He felt… off."

"Off? Why? Isn't he like the best Stamen ever?"

"Sure, but the moment I met him, I felt he was somewhat… unbalanced. He constantly rambled about his Pistil in a _very_ obsessive way while in a depressive daze. I mean, I would be worried as hell if 028 was hurt, but I think I wouldn't sound like a broken record like he did. I felt just leaving him alone. Maybe it's just me, though."

The Pistil squares him up.

"Maybe he has PTSD, you know. Those are not things to laugh about."

"I can't tell, I'm not a psychologist."

"I am, and I'm gonna review him in a while, since he's awake."

"The little girl first." Hisui reminds him.

" _And_ the Stamen. Maybe something bad happened, and he felt threatened."

"Are you sure?"

"Very positive. Did they find a picture book of the Pistil?"

"Mh-mh."

"I want that."

"Why?"

"Children don't communicate as you do. They use… other ways."

"I see. The Garden shaped you up well."

"Hm-hm." She affirmatively hums.

He keeps walking towards the Wards Department, and after a couple of long corridors he turns to her.

"I'm going just to make a quick visit."

"Sure, I'm staying here." She points at a waiting bench along the corridor.

Hisui approaches the first room past the bench and leans on the door, opening ever so slightly. A dark room cut by a blade of light comes into view, revealing a bed with a hill of sheets on top, like someone was buried underneath, and a small girl sitting beside it sleeping arms crossed onto the mattress against the hill.

He slowly closes back the door, then looks over at his assistant and nods.

"Nevermind, they're sleeping. Better leaving them be for now."

The Pistil nods affirmatively, looking him in an interesting way. Then, she gets up from the bench and returns to his side to proceed down the corridor towards the couple's room, past the hospital.

…

* * *

…

A rhythmic tapping on the surface of the desk, Hachi stares blankly at the black and orange screen, bored of watching, through the sped-up CTTV loop registration, the same corridor for 30 recorded minutes without a sign of the couple, although sporting with duty the same hard and impassable stare all the while.

At one point, be blinks and slowly shifts his composed sitting position forward, perching his head on the desk. The skylights of the command station are shining bright from the sun now well up in the sky, and Hachi, at one point, glances outside the picture of the screen distracted by the outside view. To his disappoint on himself, he clicks his tongue, rewinds the recording and replays the section he missed.

After a while, he pauses the playback and gives himself a brief pause to stretch his back and arms, being sitting onto a chair all the morning. His gaze shifts over the sea of terminals and spots the new Nana's bobbed-haired head, still staring at the screen immobile, like being part of the chair she was sitting on. Hachi stares at her for a while, not sure if praising her for her aptitude at being a stationary guard duty sentinel or throwing on her head his communicator to wake her up. He settles for a more discreet approach as he fires up his command line and types away a command. In a second, on Nana's terminal appears a message:

 _Would you stop staring at the prompt and start working already?_

Nana doesn't even flinch.

Instead, she slowly turns her head around to look at Hachi, sporting her closed-lid eyes and a terribly creepy closed-lip smile. Hachi begins the stare-down battle, in which he glares at her squeezing his eyelids - a battle won by attrition as Nana slowly turns back towards the terminal and turns on the aerial drone cameras all around Bird's Nest and digital seismograph charts.

Another 30 minutes' worth of video registrations made before the breakfast handout revealed nothing out of the ordinary, meaning a completely still image. He speeds up the recording playback and the tent remains as still as a wall. He starts caressing his buzz cut like a brush, then a blur passing by the tent makes him recoil and tap on the laser keyboard to stop the recording.

"Here we go." He declares victorious.

Rewinding the video, he looks at the tent at real time and discovers that the movement was just a nearby Pistil with brown hair with a medical arm aid coming out a nearby room… the playback speed made him think the blur was from the couple's one. Hachi clicks his tongue in disappoint once again, followed by a weak sighs. This should be the moment in which the breakfast handout starts, and the Parasites start streaming towards the stairs to get to the center of the room…

Nothing. Not even a sign of the tent slightly bending, or the lights turning on-

Oh. The room lights. With the curtain closed, it's pitch dark in the rooms.

And the ceiling light above the room is turned off.

Hachi rewinds the registration towards the hour before the handout and, slowly, the lights of the nearby rooms turn on… except the ones of the couple's room. He fast forwards and it remains dark, as the recording started. Then he returns to real-time playback and, one after one, the Parasites living nearby proceed out from their rooms to retrieve their food.

Superimposed to their faces and heads, on-screen green-bordered squared reticules appear, showing on their code and a graph showing the analysis of their facial muscles for information about their emotional status. But from the room, no movement at all - even when the Parasites return in their rooms breakfast in hand, the lights inside remain dark and no sign of movement from the tent.

"They weren't in the room to begin with?"

This is _way_ an absurd conclusion. But 121 clearly retrieved the breakfast… The room had their personal belongings, were they already…

"Wait a moment, what if…"

Hachi exits from the recording and brings up the camera's recording lists and selects the one associated with the tera-resolution cameras atop the Sphere that records the aerial view of the plaza. He fast forwards to when 214, 196 and 666 were distributing the breakfast. A forest of heads and green squares fills the screen, each one encompassing a Parasite, but Hachi just types away the filter command and the squares reduce to just one: Code 121's.

The Stamen retrieved his breakfast tray, then walked off the crowd to approach a small figure dressed in white that was standing close to the elevator… who was that? Hachi removes the filters on the square indicators and…

There's not a reticule on his or her face.

That Parasite small and tiny… it must be his Pistil! But why she's not recognized by the system? She was waiting close to the elevator, among the confusion of the bustling crowd amassing at the multi-level cart that contained the trays. The Stamen handed her his pack to the girl, then returned into the crowd only to be waved off by 214 shortly after - he has quite the memory to remember his face after glancing him.

Then, he returned to his Pistil close to the elevator, pushed the button to access it and shoved the pack inside, hidden behind the corner next to the door, to take hold her Pistil's hand and return to the crowd to be given another pack by 196, that squared them pretty intensely… But Code 121 was incredibly calm and collected according from the emotional scanner, even when facing head-on someone Hachi knows has an inquisitive personality like 196.

But when Code 196 got close to the Pistil and she ran behind him, his aggression values shot up like crazy.

Hachi's eyes freeze onto his skyrocketing graph.

That. Should. Be. Not. Possible.

The emotional activation levels read from his facial muscles were similar to a fight-and-flight reaction, but his body language was completely non-aggressive and geared toward the preservation of the status-quo. How did he…

No.

First question.

How did he remove his emotional limiter?

Second question.

How did he learn to suppress his emotions that way?

Hachi feels an enormous urgency to review the Parasite's information.

Why didn't he think of doing that before?

Hachi's lips clasp in disappoint towards himself. The search is getting more complex by the minute, and searching for his data takes time.

Time that they don't have right now.

What he can do by now is to follow them and discover where they went after that scene - he follows them returning to the elevator to retrieve the pack 121 left, opening the doors and… going inside it, closing the doors and pushing the button to take the elevator to the lobby.

This morning they weren't in their room. Interesting.

He immediately goes back down to the terminal and searches for the recordings of the lobby, where he pans the timeline just before the moment the couple walked out of the elevator. This time, both of them didn't have a squared reticule and the stamen was leading his Pistil by the hand, almost like dragging her along by force, towards the bridge connecting to the external ring of the base.

He switches to one of the close by cameras and discovers that both their faces were hidden by… dust masks.

Ah… the masks were disrupting the facial recognition software.

Maybe, as 196 suggested, they were going to the hospital, maybe the Stamen got that equipment to prevent the Pistil from...

…Wait, then why did he also wear it? And why not wearing flu masks?

He follows the duo crossing the bridge and entering ring corridor. Past the external door, they turn in the direction of the hospital.

Following them walking quickly like they were being followed, he switches the camera to the one looking over the ring corridor, just past the bridge connecting with Sphere 1. But the recording of that camera is completely black. Those were perfectly functioning cameras!

Even those in the side rooms, connected to that part of the corridor, were all dark. The duo enters the blind zone of the cameras, but then doesn't appear at the other end of the corridor where the other functioning ones are.

Hachi rewinds the black camera very quickly, searching for the last clear images of the corridor before they went dark. Finding those, he notes that he was seeing the recordings of the day before, at night. Playing forward, he sees the Stamen, 121, strolling along the corridor with an empty black trash sack. He passes past the camera, then the visual goes dark, clearly being covered by the same sack the Stamen was carrying.

Hachi recoils and shoots up from the chair.

"Who is that Parasite?" He utters in disbelief.

He covered all those cameras with black sacks.

This is an intentional security breach. Hachi's mind immediately launches forward in thinking, fastest he could manage, the most plausible theory he had in mind for what happened.

The Stamen broke out of his emotional control, most likely after the battle, out of trauma. Driven by a mental condition, he's not able to suppress his base instincts, so routinely hurts his Pistil for calming himself, Hachi guesses with calculating precision.

Not wanting to be discovered, he makes a safe room covering the cameras of the surrounding and drags the Pistil into an isolated room, that is not cleaned by Code 056, and then organizes himself with sacks and covers to clean after the fact. The Pistil cannot resist him and is scared, stays silent for not wanting to be hurt further, bottling all the trauma.

Then, he gathers the dirty stuff into the sacks to get rid of them, using their room as a storage unit and throwing them when the gathering comes.

Hachi terminates his reconstruction.

"I have to protect them."

His eyes blink with determination.

"System control: declaring tactical alert, type orange."

A robotic voice from the terminal goes back to him.

"Servicing system alert call. User CER-008 declares General Alert. Status: orange. Assessment accepted. Mode switch."

"Code 121 is declared as a high threat target." Hachi utters.

"Pinpointed 121 as high priority target. Volumetric scanning: active. Gun emplacements: active."

"Set nonlethal mode."

"Nonlethal mode: activated. Guns are live."

"Assessment over."

«Ping»

The desk terminal switches off and the tactical big screen some meters away turns on, displaying the sections of Bird's Nest in a 3D environment supplied by side holographic screens floating beside the main one. Hachi walks off his desk towards the tactical display and stops in front of it, hands in his pockets.

Nana looks at him past her terminal with her ever-present smile and comments, her shoulders slouching, in a whisper.

"Aren't you… a bit overreacting?"

"Not one inch." Hachi almost shouts, having heard Nana's remark. "He's potentially very dangerous, for himself, his Pistil and others around him."

Nana's smile slowly bends in worry. What just happened?

…

* * *

…

With careful motions, the tall Parasite doctor with thick, squared glasses and a brown dandy cut hovers the scanning device over the black-haired Pistil lying on her bed and the imaging of her cranium appears on his tablet screen. He moves it around to try and find the cause of her migraine, but his mouth morphs in a worried grin as his scan reveals nothing out of the norm.

He shakes his head, then turns off the device.

He feels her head with his fingers to discover traumas, and she follows his hands with her eyes, still in a daze.

"Does it hurt?"

"No..." The Pistil weakly responds.

"Hmmmmm." He nods, still clueless as before. "I can't see what's the problem."

"H-how…"

"I mean, you're weak and stressed... What have you done in the previous days?"

"Nothing... I just talked, read a book, passed time with my Stamen..."

"Are you absolutely sure? Weren't you nervous, or had an episode of something that scared you...? Or something that made you overthink?"

"W... well... I'm more nervous than ever because I feel I'm fading out..."

"When you sleep, do you have nightmares?"

"No... But when I wake up it's like I didn't sleep at all..."

"Your cortisol levels are off the charts. You can't be serious. I advise you to stay in bed and..."

"But how! How I'm supposed to... care for… and... Ugh!" She cringes, experiencing a painful fit to her head.

The Stamen immediately reacts on reflex and turns on the device. He scans the Pistil head again, and once again sighs in disappoint. Even with the symptoms ongoing, the scanner picks up only the area of her brain processing pain lighting up, and nothing else.

"Nothing!" He exclaims vexed. "But still, don't be nervous, it only worsens your situation. I'll talk with someone up in the hospital to be on watch for you and your Stamen, since you're not the first one having this migraine by a long margin. We'll try and help you in every way."

"O…Ok…" The Pistil, reassured, closes her eyes and tones down her breathing.

The doctor takes the scanner and the tablet, shoves them back in his duffle bag and takes out a box of Paracetamol tablets.

"This is what I can do for now. Please, let yourself be medicated for a while. Take one tablet with water each day, one every five to six hours."

The medic writes down a memo and gives to the Pistil the box of pills wrapped by the note.

"If you're worsening, please call me. For now, farewell."

"Thanks… See you…" She waves from her bed, then drags the arm on her eyes, trying to rest her eyes for a while.

The doctor gets his bag on his shoulder and walks to the divisor tent. After shoving it apart, four Parasites appear waiting him in line outside: Futoshi, Kokoro, a tired 371 and the young Stamen, all looking at him. The doctor adjusts his thick glasses and shakes his head.

"I don't know about her, either."

The four of them exchange worried looks.

"Is she dying, doctor?" The young Stamen asks with teary eyes.

"No… don't worry. She's… tired. You should take care of her."

He then turns to Futoshi, waiting for his response.

"About you… Well, to repeat it again, your symptoms for now are somewhat insignificant. You have no traumas as far as I can tell, so just keep yourself in check..."

He waves his finger on his own head while explaining further.

"…Code 056, Goro as you call him, was taken in because overworking. So, make sure to take some free time, and I assure you your headaches will disappear."

Both Futoshi and Kokoro open wide their eyes and mouth from the surprise.

"What… did Goro…? My." Futoshi's gaze falls to the ground in confusion. "I would never have thought…"

"Ohhh…" Kokoro grips her uniform's skirt. "He looked fine this morning…"

Instead 371 nods left and right and raises his hands in a yielding gesture.

"He's a literal machine. I told him to slow down…"

Kokoro and Futoshi looks at him with questioning looks, but 371 just launches them same look.

"What, he's your teammate and you don't know at what point he pushes himself? Weren't you at the Gran Crevasse Battle aftermath, or - ah, suuuure! You were transporting tanks… of course." He snarkily remarks.

"W-What's your deal?" Futoshi asks defensive, pecked in his softest.

"Aaand the inhumane work rhythm he has when cleaning…" He swings his head slightly left and right with a very difficult expression. "…There's a reason why I didn't join the cleaning volunteers when my Pistil asked me to: I have some self-preservation!"

"Yeah, when I checked him, he was literally a mess. He's staying there for… at least for the day." The glassed Parasite doctor remarks.

Futoshi then remembers the deal with the exploding Klaxxosaur back in Cerasus and agrees that Goro has somewhat always had a… tendency to be always on first line with active self-sacrifice. He somewhat feels, not with a bit of surprise, that such behaviour… is by nature very noble. He would surely oper-

"Ah…" Futoshi recoils a bit, but he steels himself and hides the pain from the headache still plaguing him at random. "A-ah… Sure. I'll be careful."

"Well, if it's everything, I'm off for now." The doctor waves at the four, then proceeds down the corridor.

The four wave back to him, observing him going down the stairs while writing a message on his communicator. Then, the young Stamen enters the room back to his beloved Pistil, his eyes full of tears.

"I'd leave them alone for now…" Says a meekly smiling 371.

"Are you fine now…?" Kokoro meekly asks to him.

"Yes. It's way better than before. I guess… this pressure in my head has gone for now."

"Good! Thanks for the help!" She smiles radiantly.

Futoshi freezes at her smile almost entranced, his lips slightly parted by the awe. Time slows down while his everything collapses onto her, as he savours her beautiful expression, her delicate, snow white skin, her long eyelashes crowning her large, downturned blue eyes…

Her smile…

She's perfect.

Kokoro notices him with her side vision and Futoshi embarrassedly diverts his intense stare. Then, a fit hits him, not in his head but in his chest… one that is thousands times more painful than the former. His hand wanders onto his heart while he leans on the railing of the corridor. As he fixates his gaze into the air's nothing, Futoshi tries to regain footing with reality and his feelings.

It hurts so much…

Kokoro notices him moving to the side in slight pain and turns to him and worriedly tries to get his attention.

"Are you…"

Kokoro's lips freeze midsentence as she sees his friend clenching his chest, not his head, after looking at her. Her mind instantly flashes to the moments, some weeks ago, where she was rejected by him for being his FranXX partner after she was... changed.

"Futoshi, I'm…"

"It's OK, Kokoro, it's OK… I'm still just a bit confused… Don't worry about it." He waves to her a meek smile, masking his true feelings with a relaxed tone, wanting to avoid Kokoro to feel bad about him still hurting because of those warped desires of him, residues of that day he wanted to forget.

Kokoro doesn't look assured of his explanation and, instead, she's jolted by a spark of guilt. Her face melts in a helpless expression while she joins her trembling hands and brings them to her chest, her urge of shouting out her helplessness suppressed by his carefree attitude. She opens her mouth, but no voice comes out at all, chocked by her insecurity.

Futoshi, knowing he upset her, curses himself in silence.

"Sorry, Kokoro. I'm going to… help Ikuno with…" He says with a suffocated, tense voice while turning around towards the stairs, completely unable to face his feelings. He then strides forward down the stairwell, wanting to get down as fast as he could, to create the most distance from her and his pain.

Kokoro shakes her head aghast, seeing him getting far from her with his back slouched forward. She forces a breath in her lungs to regain her composure, but her anxiety remains lodged in her chest.

"N-n-no…" She utters, but her voice comes out as a whisper. Futoshi was running apart from her, but she wanted to stop him.

"Wait!" Her voice picks up volume now, but he's already well gone down the stairs. Her feet move on their own, slowly accelerating from a walk to a dash trying to tail him.

She runs to the stairwell and quickly tackle the steps to tail Futoshi.

Code 371, witnessing the scene, slouches his surrendering shoulders.

"Those P13, what a mess..." He drops his remark while returning to his room, scratching his head.

…

* * *

…

"Hi, excuse me, do you know Code 121?"

The Pistil Ikuno was referring to looks at her dumbfounded.

"Huh…? N-Nope, sorry…" She waves her off.

Ikuno was just polling people at random coming down the stairs of the north dormitory, but she wasn't having any luck finding someone that would know that Stamen. She abandons the Pistil and then blocks another Stamen on his way up.

"Hello, excuse me…"

"H-Hi!" The Stamen looks at her nervously.

"Do you happen to know Code 121?"

"Ehhh… Ah! That lonely Stamen up the third floor?"

"Yes!" Ikuno beams him with both eyes open wide.

"No, sorry, he's quite the strange guy, so I just leave him alone…"

"Ah, OK, thanks anyways."

Ikuno parts with the Stamen.

The consensus on Code 121 is that he's a lonely guy, a strange guy, he stays inside most of the time and even if you encounter him going outside of his room, he avoids any form of interaction, including eye contact or any other word other than monosyllables when prompted. The person that talked most with him was Kokoro without a doubt, and she judged he wasn't a bad person.

Ikuno believed her, in a sense that a person like Kokoro would pick up on people's nature fast, but she couldn't shake off this strange feeling that there was a reason for his isolation. From what she gathered, he wasn't a violent person, he talked to people but never opened himself to anyone, almost like he wasn't interested in personal contact…

Ikuno grumbles and keeps descending the stairs…

Wait, what about his squad?

"Not really, I don't think he even has a squad to be honest." A passing Pistil tells Ikuno, being blocked by her.

"…What, how can a Parasite not have a squad?"

"No, I mean that… many lost their squad in those months. I lost three teammates myself, about the time when that Lehman charged between the Plantations…"

"Ah… I'm sorry." Ikuno apologises for her accidental intrusion.

"Don't worry... We were all down there. I'm just… extremely pissed that they died for… nothing." The Pistil smiles ironically, but in her eyes sparks of hate lit up. "-AH"

She cringes in pain out of the blue.

"Are you OK?"

"Sorry. I'm having this headaches all the time when I get mad."

"When you get mad…?"

"Yeah, it's like something banging on my head whenever I laugh, I'm sad or… whatever. It's really annoying!"

"I see… Does it happen often?"

"Yes, and it's not me either, even my Stamen has this strange thing. I just want us to be left alone…" The Pistil says forlorn.

Ikuno thinks this might be related to the 'illness' that 013 was talking about.

"I hope it's just a passing thing. Thanks for the help."

"You're welcome. See you next time." The Pistil bows to her.

Ikuno wanders her gaze towards the central plaza descending the stairs, having reached the bottom. There was a limit in how many people she could poll and get useful info, given how less Code 121 interacted with people, so she stops polling people. Instead, walks over to the east dormitory wanting to link up with Futoshi and Kokoro to tell them her recent findings, what she found in Code 723's picture book and what the people think about her and his Stamen.

She can't just process how strange a guy he is: he's a complete shut in and never interacts with people unless strictly necessary. He's unapproachable, but very caring to his Pistil, that in turn adores him. He lets her outside to play with others very frequently but drives others away when she's not well.

To her, seems very unlikely at this point that he'd be the responsible of the girl's injury… If, again, it was really the girl that was injured, because up to this point, she can't see how the injury was made or who was even injured, because to be honest, the teddy bear could be even touched by the Stamen, since he would have played with her. Being injured himself, then for his distrust of people he isolated himself…

This is really hard!

She had read some mystery novels before, but this is another level altogether. That's easy being the reader and having an external viewpoint, witnessing each scene with detach- oh.

Ikuno forgot about Hachi and the cameras.

Didn't he tell her he would be contacting her back? How much time she's supposed to wait, aren't those just video recordings?

She goes into the plaza descending the straight stairs connecting it to the north dormitory, gets herself into a solitary corner and flicks out her communicator to call Hachi. The tone rings clear, so she waits in anticipation for him to pick up the call.

"Sorry, 196. I was reviewing some data."

"Did you find anything in the cameras… sir?"

"Yes. Something quite not good. The Stamen is not to be approached in any circumstance."

"What…?"

"I found out the Stamen is not… emotionally stable and he's dangerous, maybe armed."

"What does it mean…?"

"It means he's not to be interacted with."

"Why…? What does really mean 'emotionally unstable'?"

"Based on what I gathered from the recordings, he lead his Pistil out of the Sphere to bring her in a camera blind spot area made by him. I'm very positive he allegedly hurts her Pistil in a regular manner."

A jolt traverses Ikuno's spine as he slumps her shoulders at his meaningless statements.

"I'd require you to call off the search now."

"W-what?!"

"I call off the search. You may return to your previous work…"

Ikuno feels her rage mounting like a volcano. How could he just call off her work like that? There's no way she would be OK with disregarding everything, after all she'd discovered about those two. She knows something traumatic happened, and she believes the Stamen is not a violent person toward the Pistil or anyone else, so why did Hachi thinks he's a psycho?

"Sir, no way! I've polled some of his neighbours and he's not a violent person! At the contrary, he's not talkative, but…"

Hachi interrupts her.

"No one ordered you to do so. I told you to stand by until I reviewed the camera footage. Now there are people that know we're after him. That's a grave mistake."

"Grave mistake…?"

Ikuno startles. After him?

"Wait, why are we 'after him'? Didn't we just wanted to review what happened to them?"

"The situation changed. I saw what happened and the Stamen is to be considered a threat."

Ikuno opens her mouth in pure disbelief. He's a threat?

"Hachi, sir, without offense, but nothing's changed! They are still unable to be found, no one in the Sphere has seen them and they are most likely not well themselves! Why we're hunting them down now?"

Ikuno's voice gets louder as her disbelief increases. Was she lied to all the time, from the very start of this search? Were they just helping Hachi in hunting down the Parasites he deemed unfit by him? Why?

"Please believe me when I say he's not to be approached." Hachi disregards Ikuno's questions.

"HOW CAN I BELIEVE YOU IF YOU DON'T TRUST ME!" Ikuno bursts like a lion. The Parasites gravitating around the bell cart parked in the center of the plaza turn around, startled by her yelling.

"Why did you lie to us and keep us from knowing things, do you think we're just pawns to use like you please? I'm here to help others realize we can go on without Papa and his rules, living all together in peace, but instead I'm hunting down the same people we're trying to help because of some made up reason! I-REFUSE-TO-LET-THIS-GO!"

"No… that's not it. I'm trying to protect you."

"That's not how you protect people!"

"…Please, I'll resolve this matter myself."

"You don't know _anything_ happening here, sir. I'm sorry again, but I'm not leaving this be."

"…196."

"My name is Ikuno. And now I'm not going to become an Adult like you."

"…" Hachi's voice immediately silences.

"Over and out." Ikuno closes the communicator.

That Code 013 was right all along. About him, and about them, too.

…

* * *

…

Futoshi, having almost reached the first floor, slows down his pace in descending the stairs. His guilt now resurfaces knowing he just ditched Kokoro on the spot, but he knows that him staying up there could have only worsened the situation on both sides.

Futoshi wants her to be happy, and his attentions are not what makes her happy.

In fact, she's repulsed by him. She prefers another one to him, and there's nothing he can do about it. Futoshi doesn't feel resentful towards Kokoro at all, instead he acknowledges his mistakes at that time. But even if he then fixes himself, he still can't change the fact he isn't Mitsuru to begin with. So, that day, when she returned with her memories erased, he pushed her away because he knew for a fact her happiness wasn't being with him, but with who she loved instead.

It's extremely painful, but he knows his pain is very insignificant compared to her happiness, which is very important to him. He was prepared to throw away everything: he even staged at her wedding as the person that would have sealed their vows of love.

Even after that, he still loves her.

Even after the painful refusal he experienced from her when she disregarded that promise... He wanted to protect that smile, even by sacrificing his own. That promise really didn't matter to him anymore, because he reasoned that it was taken off her on the spot, selfishly and without consideration. He begged her to be with him forever because he strongly wanted someone… like her. A beautiful angel that comforted him, that filled with her presence and her gentle voice that gigantic chasm in his soul.

Because, for all his life, he felt empty inside.

Directionless, in apathy.

Something he came to realize not so long ago, just before being admitted in being a Parasite. Nothing was able to quell his uneasiness and his nervous self, so he would overeat to fill that missing piece he felt he had in himself. He gained weight, but he didn't care at all, because that gaping hole had to be filled one way or another. All his friends were gone, spirited by the Adults, and everyone else was looking at him like a stranger. No surprise, since no one would want to be close to the derelict that he felt he was.

Then, after getting a Plantation of his own, he encountered her. He didn't even fathom how lucky he was. He continued to overeat, although way less than before - bread was really tasty back then. For once since a long time he stopped feeling the dread that plagued him, and for the first time in his life, he felt happy.

Just happy.

He didn't ask much at life. Killing some Klaxxosaurs? Sure! For how much the Adults wanted!

Then his life turned around very quickly… in a direction he never anticipated.

And there he was, descending the stairs. Slowing down to a crawl, absorbed in his thoughts, Futoshi leans on the railing of the u-bend overlooking the plaza and sighs, lonesome.

Then, rapid steps descending the stairwell grabs his attention.

That couldn't be.

Is she…?

"Wait, please! Futoshi!"

Kokoro almost slides onto the steps around the bend and charges head on into him, panting, stepping rapidly to grab his arm. Futoshi immediately reacts, trying to escape further, just to be stopped by her pulling him back.

"Stop, please! I want to talk!"

"Ko-Kokoro, I'm…" Futoshi avoids looking directly in her eyes.

"Why…! Why do you always look at me like that! Why are you running away from me!" She utters in desperation, clinging to his arm. "Why do you hate me!" She asks again with a wet voice.

"I don't hate you!" Futoshi this time stares at her teary blue eyes with an intensity never shown before.

"That's not true! Why do you always avoid me? Why is that when you look at me, you're in pain?" She unsteadily shakes his arm, like trying to shake him off long due answers. "Why did you refuse to be my Stamen?"

"It's that…"

"Please! Don't hate me! What have I done to…" She looks down, and tears start streaming down her cheeks. "What have… -hic- I done to you… that you stopped talking to -hic- me…? Please…"

She starts to tremble while she bends forward, still attached to his arm, shuddering. A rain of tears starts to descend from her contrived face, spotting the floor beneath her.

"I don't want -hic- this… -hic- It's too -hic- painful… Pleas -hic-" She starts to hic uncontrollably.

Futoshi looks at her completely aghast and grabs her shoulders to get her upright and stable on her feet. Then he looks down past her long blond-grayish hair, hiding her like a curtain, to be met with her painfully red, crying face.

Futoshi feels the world collapsing.

He just made her cry.

Why…?

Didn't he swear to protect her smile…?

"I… I… listen…"

Futoshi fumbles in pain and worry. He must clear this thing immediately, else he's gonna break down crying as well.

"You… we parted as a Parasite couple… You had found a better partner with Mitsuru… and started… piloting with him."

"I didn't‼ We… didn't…" Kokoro tries to deny the facts.

Futoshi horribly startles as he releases her shoulders from his stabilizing grip.

"But you…!"

"NO! STOP!"

For the very first time in her life, an angry and distraught Kokoro was exchanging gazes with Futoshi. Fists clasped shut along her slender body tensed by her animosity, she shouts her lungs out.

"THAT PERSON WASN'T ME! I DON'T REMEMBER, I DON'T WANT THIS!"

Futoshi recoils backwards at her shouting and leans against the railing barrier of the stairs.

Kokoro then realizes her outburst and covers her mouth in between her frantic breaths.

"Please… don't abandon me…"

She recomposes herself, stifling her cry and drying her tears off her cheeks, then explains herself further.

"It's true. I can't accept this. Those are… not my memories. They don't belong to me…" She brazenly declares, not without a touch of insecurity.

"Kokoro, you were brainwashed by Papa and his lackeys! Your memories were altered!"

"I don't care, I said! It wasn't me! Those are not my actions… the person you have now in front of you isn't the same one!"

"That's…" Futoshi looks at her completely dispossessed of his thoughts. Why would she think like that?

"I don't want to be treated like I'm not myself anymore! Why… Why everyone has to… force me to… be as they please? I never took that decision! I never….!"

Kokoro starts sobbing again.

"Kokoro… I… it's that…"

Futoshi knows perfectly what Kokoro is trying to say.

It's like being accused of something you don't remember doing. Of course, you'd distance yourself from it and even at receiving proof of it you'd be extremely hostile to it regardless. Because… you'd refuse to lose grip with your sense of reality and admit that your… very being is fundamentally wrong.

Even worse if one day, when you wake up, the reality that you know is completely subverted. Past, present, people… and on top of that, everyone around you start questioning your actions because they're not in touch with your reality. The most horrible thing is to be branded as an ill-crazy person, incapable of living and in need of constant aid, then derided and abandoned for the things you consider normality.

And she was fighting against that. An incredibly uphill battle… The Kokoro she knew never would had challenged the world on her own. She really changed on her own.

Futoshi can imagine her pain… but there isn't just one reality.

"…You're right. But you can't expect me to just ignore completely all I had gone through, either."

He wants to make sense of his pain, to channel it in a direction, towards something that made sense of his life. He can't discard his own reality, and with it, the pain that drove him forward.

…

 _But if she's in pain because of that…_

…

Is this really the way to go? Does he have to disregard everything and return to her side?

…

 _But in the end, she won't be happy with him…_

…

That's it. He must protect her happiness and show her the way she can obtain that, to make her smile beautifully out from her heart once again.

Like that day of the wedding.

"I know, because of what happened in those days. I learned that you won't be ever happy with me." Futoshi explains.

"No! No one ever said that…!"

"You might not have said it, but… I think the Kokoro I talked with all this months was the real Kokoro, not a fake."

The girl shakes her head vigorously.

"What does it matter? It might… be true that some things about you were a bit… wrong and… untactful, like that time that you've… appreciated me in front of everyone…"

Kokoro makes a brief pause as her cheeks slightly go on fire.

"…A-Anyway! You might have been a creep sometimes, a-and too much clingy, and ate too much - and that might have been my fault too - but I know you didn't do it out of being a bad person! But then…"

She ponders her words attentively.

"You changed completely. I see you a different person now… sure of yourself, more kind, more… focused…"

Kokoro starts playing with her hair frills, still a bit red.

"I changed because of the promise you broke." Futoshi retorts.

Kokoro disenchants herself and looks him in the eyes with a sorry expression.

"That time I learned my lesson. And that my happiness didn't mean your happiness."

"Why…?"

"You… that day, you chose Mitsuru over me as your FranXX partner."

A lonesome smile blossoms on Futoshi as he explains on.

"From that day on, you had a smile that you never had with me. That smile was everything to me… I vowed to myself that I would make your happiness come true, instead of mine. So, I decided to let you go… because I wanted to see that smile once again, forever."

Kokoro widens her eyes as her lips part in complete surprise.

"My… happiness…"

She blinks her eyes several times.

"Why would you… go such lengths… for my happiness?"

Futoshi had no doubts of the answer.

"Because I love you."

She freezes on the spot.

Her lips move without sound, first repeating Futoshi last words, then erratically moving on their own as her eyes go off focus and her hands feel her chest, where her heart was beating uncontrollably. She suddenly deeply gasps to fill her lungs, having forgot how to breathe properly, then the mist on her eyes disappears and her face goes on fire violently.

"Love…"

She looks down to her feet, in thought.

"It's a very familiar word. But I don't know, or remember, what it means…"

She slowly walks up to him, then rises her head with a smile. A deeply beautiful smile, accompanied by her shining blue eyes.

"It looks extremely painful, but my heart tells me… it's also extremely beautiful."

She closes to him and takes his hand.

"I think… discovering what 'love' is about… will bring me happiness."

Her eyes once again feel with tears, but ones of joy.

"Could you help me… discover what 'love' means?"

Futoshi caresses her cheek with the other hand left free. Kokoro lightly recoils in surprised by his gesture, but after discovering its tenderness, she lets herself being caressed.

He was so… so much glad.

In fact, he felt his heart pounding so much it seemed it wanted to burst out of his ribcage from the happiness, and his eyes were about to cry as well.

He was given another chance. He didn't need to kill his own heart to make her happy. Even if it didn't feel right because she had lost her memories, now it doesn't matter anymore.

"Yes…!"

Futoshi, gently leading her by her shoulder and her flank. Slowly, he hugs Kokoro as her delicate body presses against his chest and his arms tenderly encloses her. Kokoro is surprised but smiles and starts caressing his back when she notices Futoshi's sobbing and shaking.

A very long hug, in which Futoshi keeps weeping on Kokoro's shoulder, and she keeps caressing his big back and head,

After they part, looking each other in their teary eyes, wet by their sheer emotion liberated by their reconciliation.

Suddenly, the sound of hands clapping ensues.

Both Futoshi and Kokoro look around, and they find themselves being observed by a quite large crowd of cheering people returning from the garbage collection, all gathered at the base of the stairs. The scene that Kokoro and Futoshi made was being watched by everyone: they stopped talking on the bend of the stairwell facing the front of the open building, so it was almost as they quarrelled, confessed to and hugged on a pulpit.

Surprised, touched, happy, curious, and laughing faces, all watching them cuddle…

Both part in embarrassment, trying to hide their emotion, and the crowd starts whistling and hollering at the rhythm of the clapping.

"More! More! More!"

"A-are they thinking this was theatrics, now…?" Kokoro worriedly asks. Futoshi, instead, smiles at the crowd and starts waving his hand in salute.

"Heheh…" She laughs at his nonchalance.

Futoshi notices an arm-crossed Ikuno in the crowd, highlighted by her blue overalls and cap. He looks at her, and she lifts her cap to show her amused and ironic smile, nodding in an exaggerated way. Then, her arm launches upwards into an equally exaggerated thumbs up.

Futoshi smiles at her full teeth, happy like a child, while Kokoro can't keep her eyes off him.

…

* * *

…

White latex-gloved hands open the white curtain of Code 121 and Code 723's room. Hisui's face peeks from it, and not even half way into the room his nostrils contract violently and he recoils back outside. He then turns his head to the side towards his bored assistant, cringing.

"I can't do this." Hisui says horrified.

"Whaaat? Aren't you a doctor?"

"Well, I never got out of training, so…" He shrugs.

"That's bullshit! Clench you nose, sweetie!"

The violet-haired girl pinches his nose between her thumb and index finger and pulls him back inside.

"Aoaoaoaoao!" Hisui protests feeling the cartilage of his nose being torn aside.

"You're more precious than MY practitioners at their first diaper change!"

"I got it, I got it!"

Hisui steps inside in darkness, hands in the air, and the girl releases his nose. He sneers once again for the smell, but shakes his head to convince himself to pull through.

"The only smell I'm partial of is that of formaldehyde."

"Gross!"

"That's _the stuff_."

The Pistil assistant enters behind Hisui and hands him the medical bag she carried all the way and flicks open the room lights, both of them dazzled and squirming their eyes at the sudden glare of the ceiling light. After using his hands as shade to give relief to his retinae, Hisui walks semi-blindly towards the center of the room only to briefly trip on the covers of the bed scattered about.

"What a mess!" He protests.

Finding everything scattered as Futoshi left it previously, both cringe in a horror, one for the smell and the other for the state the room was left in.

"This would mean a hard scolding." The girl remarks.

"Maybe Ikuno searched the room."

"Hm-hm. I was referring _especially_ to her."

"Whoa, I left you a very laid-back person back then, now would you look at yourself… well, gonna start working here."

"Same. There's the drawing book."

"Where?

"Right here." She picks it up off the plushie that was placed on it, finding close by the little girl's crayons scattered all over. She gathers them back into their container then she sits on the mattress, placing the book on her lap.

"Wooow. She likes drawing… she kept her drawing book immaculate. Pretty rare!"

She starts looking at it with interest while Hisui goes to the sack lying on the corner of the room and starts looking at the sheets, extracting one by one using tweezers and lying them on a white disposable sheet he prepared on the ground.

"Heh… this is a royal mess. Wait, is this supposed to be 'a lot of blood'?"

"Why?" Her assistant asks with her nose almost level with the pages, examining very attentively.

"Because this is not a lot to my standards." Hisui imperceptibly shakes his head while observing the now laid-out sheets, then turns to the Pistil.

She takes off her curious eyes from the book and looks at Hisui bent on the bloodied sheets.

"Your standards? Liters?"

"Yes. This is literally half a cup worth."

"Isn't it bad?"

"No. We have four litres in total in ourselves, and we start being sick at the litre mark. I mean, it's bad for someone to spill it regardless, but people would do what they called 'blood donations' back in the day. They would extract their own blood to give it to those that performed rudimentary surgery, to supply for blood loss. Half a litre. Totally fine."

"Y-yes?" The girl was somewhat skeptic.

"These… these sheets are really thin. They aren't soaked, two single spots here and there on the big ones, then it's all the absorption of the sheets crumpled on themselves that made it spread on the rest. Regardless, this is not caused by an injury."

Hisui indicates one of the spots.

"Blood pressure doesn't make this shapes. So, it's not an artery, and a simple cut would have left countless spots." He sniffs the blood, then he recoils from it.

"Wait - this is not quite blood. This is almost plasma."

"Why?"

Hisui turns back at her with worry.

"The texture. Low to none platelet count, that's why it's still wet and not coagulated. This is incredibly bad. That leads an injury not closing properly, and bleeding goes on uncontrollably."

He then continues showing her his fingers counting.

"This mean two things. One: the one losing blood is the girl. Second, it's REAL BAD. They must be found immediately. I hope Ikuno has already found some clues…"

"…" She looks at him dumbfounded. Hisui drops the conversation now working with triple the speed, so the girl looks back to the book she was examining. Minutes pass while both go on with their tasks.

"This is… Wow. What type of guy is he? The Stamen, I mean."

"I don't know, ask around." His companion responds back with disinterest, while juggling some cotton swabs into the "I hope it's not too old…" He says referring to the blood samples.

"No, Hisui, it's that she's…" The assistant takes a deep breath. "Driving a FranXX in combat is not an easy task even for relatively mature minds like from 14-year-olds and up. But she's eight years old, isn't she? Look."

She shows Hisui one spread of the drawing book, picturing some Klaxxosaurs. Hisui stops working and sits on the ground, looking with interest.

"Every drawing of her in a FranXX is light and relaxed, the lines are well-defined and drawn with care. Everything is cute, detailed and she doesn't skip the details on every Klaxxosaur. Do you know small Children like her have nightmares after seeing one on the books we give them?"

"Why would you do that."

She puts up a tone of self-confidence and professionality.

"Because we can't let them unprepared. But she's… on another level completely. I was expecting to find markers exposing something traumatic, like hypergraphia, violence, oppressive figures or negative self-representation… But this is like her drawing herself playing with teddy bears! Except the teddy bears are death machines, and she has seen hundreds in live form!"

She points at the teddy bears lying around on the floor. Then, she explains on.

"Maybe the Stamen has something to do with it. And I tell you, she's overly emotionally attached to him. Not even joking! She draws him by her side always hand-in-hand, and that's because of the sheer attachment she formed with him."

"How so?"

"I can explain that as follows: guiding a FranXX connects you deeply with the mind of your FranXX partner. It's like joining your deep psyche with your partner's, and if both have the same mental maturity, they show a symmetric relationship in the connection. Instead, if one of the partner's mind is way more mature than the other one's, the state of mind of the former greatly affects the stability of the latter. So, given what she drew here, she found in his mind a serious positive support in those moments. He somewhat carried her all the way through the battle with no trauma at all! Due to the manner she draws him, he's not an aggressive figure towards her. At the contrary, whenever she's happy, she's with him."

Hisui looks at her in incredulity. "He's a steel-minded guy, isn't he?"

"Surely. To keep a calm mind in combat you need training of a certain kind, and that's Combat Stress Exposure Training. It's different from FranXX System Stress Training. The first is geared towards your stress limit, building your confidence towards combat scenarios and affects your capability to remain lucid under threat. The second is to manage the stress caused by the FranXX interface system, that drives your body to a limit and, most commonly, forces a hormonal reaction that affects greatly the ParaCapacity of the pilots. And guess what, normal pilots only get the latter. I wonder why that Stamen was given the former."

"I see. Couldn't it be just experience?"

"Maybe not. It's about how he considers combat… menial and normal. That's far beyond combat stress training. And, to be more thorough, the Stamen has positive thoughts, not aggressive ones."

"Well, that's some precise things you're judging from just some drawings! Do you mind if I continue working while you talk? I'm still listening." He turns to his test vials with urgency once again.

"Sure. Then, past this incredible fact, her depictions are disembodied from reality, like she was just along for the drive. She must have let his Stamen control her directly, and _that_ shows an incredible level of trust among the two. Then, progressing the book, her life this two weeks are not noteworthy, except… The last pages."

"What's so strange?"

"Not strange, unsettling. The last days show her living in the Sphere after the Battle, but she's distressed by something. The drawing lines now are more engraved, like she pushed the crayon into the drawing sheet with force out of nervousness. Then, her Stamen is still here, but he doesn't take her hand, and she's more apart from him. But that's not his fault."

"Who's?"

"Hers."

"Wh-what?" He glances back at her.

"This is very strange. The red X on her uniform is larger than it should be, compared to that of their friends. Then, the last page is a real nightmare."

"…" Hisui slows down his working speed to give her attention.

"The X in her chest colored everything in the room, and that's because she's communicating a very lucid and concrete trauma. There's no one in the room except her, alone, surrounded by everything painted red. That shows she feels alone in her distress, as of course the Stamen can't do anything about it since he must be completely unprepared to support her emotionally. It worked in a FranXX, but now it's different… Oh... She cried onto the pages…"

Her voice runs ashore on her unsettling thoughts.

"This is her trauma, of course." Hisui shows the girl the bloodied sheets.

In a hurry, the Parasite doctor puts down the cloth and puts the samples in a transparent box, each one with a different label. Then he shoves back everything he took samples from in the black sack, cleans the tweezers and stores the kit back in his bag. He gets up quickly and gives his assistant the vials container.

"Thanks for your help. Take these upstairs and tell Code 067 to analyze them, if he's already back. I'm gonna join Ikuno and her friends in the search. I definitely know what's happening, and I must get to her immediately."

"S-Sure." The girl acknowledges, tense like a violin. She then takes the vial box and places the drawing book back on the bed.

Hisui strides out from the room, fluttering the white curtain in a hurry, leaving the Pistil in the room alone.

…

* * *

…

Futoshi and Kokoro walk out of the elevator into the lobby of Sphere 1, led by Ikuno. They stop between the elevator and the bridge connecting the Sphere with the main ring corridor of the base. Ikuno was already done explaining what she found about the couple, and the discussion she had with Hachi.

"…No way." Futoshi says almost without words, scratching his reddish hair. "Hachi, why…?"

"That's horrible. Why would he do that?" Kokoro shakes her head.

"I don't know. But I want to find them in order to help them, not hunt them down like beasts, whatever the reason."

Futoshi shakes his head in disappoint.

"Why would he tell us the least he could? We need his assessment. This is not OK by prot-Unf." He is interrupted by his strange headache as he tilts the head to the side in reaction to the sharp pain.

"This is not… what?"

"Uhhh… nothing… Ehm, must be that I'm still a bit sore…"

"You have definitely something. I don't buy what that guy said about your head." Ikuno says to him.

"S…Something. But maybe you're just overthinking…" Futoshi massages his right temple, smiling nervously.

"Geez, Futoshi. Don't make me feel responsible."

"It's not my fault! It was the door's! Too stiff!"

"What door…?" Kokoro asks.

Futoshi looks at Ikuno like he just uncovered a nest of bees.

"Eeeeehhmmmmm… yeaaaaahhhhh!" Futoshi puts on a nervous grin. "I might… had… smashed down a service door earlier!"

"EEHHH…?" Kokoro bounces back from the surprise.

"I-It was an emergency! Believe me!" He explains almost begging.

"Hehhh… OK." Kokoro still looks at Futoshi with slight worry. "But didn't the doctor say you have no traumas?" She invades his personal space and starts feeling his hair with her fingers once again.

"Maybe his scanner was broken…?" He guesses blindly, albeit feeling good of being rubbed by her.

"Well, whatever. If you don't feel ill, just don't overexert yourself." Ikuno settles with Futoshi's situation and start sharing her thoughts on the couple's location.

"About those two: no one saw them in the Dormitories recently. The last place they were seen was the breakfast handout and it's unlikely they changed rooms, since there are not many left unused there. Only we have the permissions to open the doors to the Spheres we don't live, and the Hospital staff didn't see or took them in. So, the last place we could find them is in the outer ring. And Hachi mentioned there is a… 'blind spot' in the camera recordings around the ring... whatever it means."

"AH-It means that a set of cameras close to each other stopped working or were disabled, creating a zone where no one is detected or recorded, both in entering or leaving the area." Futoshi says in a single breath, smiling and suppressing his head pain.

"Wha…?" Both Kokoro and Ikuno turn to look at him, eyes peeled. "How do you…"

Futoshi look at their strange gazes, then goes pensive. "Ehm… I think I was told by someone."

"Eh… OK." Ikuno crumples her slender brow. "Let's find these broken cameras, then."

She proceeds down the door, followed by a worried Kokoro looking at a still thinking Futoshi. Crossing the bridge and going through the door leading to the ring corridor, the three stop in the middle of it while looking up at the ceiling, scanning for cameras.

"Those cameras are fine…" Kokoro notices.

"Oh, wait! Look down there!" Futoshi points down the side of the corridor leading to the command building. A Parasite clothed in cleaning duty uniform was currently poking a camera up in the air with the electric cleaning broom, circled by round cleaning bots steaming all around her.

The camera's body, hanging from the ceiling on a long vertical brace, was closed into a black trash bag.

"Here it is!" Ikuno runs towards the Parasite, with Futoshi and Kokoro in suit, and stops a meter from the spinning bots circling the Parasite cleaner. "Excuse me! Excuse me!" She calls while waving her hands up in the air.

"AWA! Who'r you!" The Parasite was a Pistil, and she was startled by Ikuno's shouts while being focused in poking the camera to dislodge the sack from it. She turns to the trio unstable on her feet to then rebalance herself, grabbing onto her broom and resting it on her shoulder.

"Hi, I'm 196 and-"

"Aye! You're Goro's teammates! Hello there!"

The Pistil removes her dust mask and her netted cap to reveal her wavy amber medium-to-short parted hair, with a small braid coming from her temple. A tall girl, reaching the height of Futoshi: she was clad in the standard cleaning uniform, her wide smile with tiny dimples and pronounced cheekbones dotted by freckles and her goldenrod eyes arched by short eyelashes.

"I'm Code 376! How can I help?" She brazenly asks with happy energy. Ikuno looks at her without words, an o-shaped mouth and both eyes fixed on her smile. She shakes her head and then starts to talk.

"Nice to meet you, Code 376. Did you see any other cameras like the one you're trying to fix…?"

"Yeah! They're up here too." She approaches and points through a glass door leading to an upwards straight stairwell labelled 'Engineering', where in the distance another netted camera could be seen.

"That's leading to some service rooms for… engineering, I guess! Someone pulled a prank here, but I can't reach those… If only I had a ladder…" She comments, downcast.

Futoshi freezes on the spot.

Ladder…

Maintenance…

A flash in his vision.

…

White.

A crowd.

Surrounding a tall person.

Speaking loudly.

"…if you need physical access the cameras to inspect their operativity…"

"…just pull out a ladder from one of these..."

"…and try not to fall!"

Wall.

A button.

…

Futoshi regains himself and looks around himself. Ikuno is still speaking to 376, and close to him Kokoro, looking at the amber-haired girl, listening to her complaining…

"…I mean, why would people throw sacks onto stuff, they should get inside themselves…!" She still complains on.

He just turns to the wall to inspect it.

Right there: a button the same color of the wall, that if you didn't actively search for it you wouldn't see its rim. He pushes it. It lights green for a moment, and an inset wall panel flush to the wall comes open, revealing a two-meter tall per half-a-meter wide cabinet with cleaning tools and a ladder. Futoshi goes inside and pulls out the foldable ladder from it.

"…Ladder." He says to the three, that in turn freeze on the spot at him popping up a ladder from the wall out of nowhere. Code 367 quickly regains her senses, jumps the bots circling her and grabs Futoshi by both his shoulders, extremely happy.

"AHHHH! Thanks, man! You're Futoshi are you! As expected from you guys! You're incredible! I forgot that there are those service panels and doors!" She takes the ladder from his hands and tries to unfold it, unsuccessfully. "Ehm… how do you use this…?"

Ikuno, having used one herself in Mistilteinn, helps her overlooked by Kokoro. Before that, the cleaner Pistil presses a button on her broom and the idling cleaning bots stop spinning and steaming, to zip into an outlet into the wall one by one in a conga line, leaving the floor with circular marks of supercleaned floor.

"N-no problem…" He pushes back the button and the panel closes back, as if it never existed. Now his head pain is constant, but way less than before. He focuses in silence on the silhouette of the panel he just uncovered, trying to recall what was the scene that passed by his own eyes, almost feeling like a deja-vu. That voice was… familiar to him, yet he never knew someone that talked about security cameras to him and…

"Hmmm." The pain in his head sharpened a bit.

Why every time that tries to recollect, his pain worsens? And why these deja-vus are popping more and more recently? Futoshi leans on the wall with his back and grabs his chin. Did he really bang his head at that…?

Now that he thinks about it, he slammed open that door using a… procedure.

"Hm." Another sharp pain. He squeezes his eyes,

What's a procedure?

Another pain. He staggers a little on the side but, being against a wall, he remains on his feet.

Why did he tried to ask Hachi if the cameras were using face recognition instead of shape 3D imaging?

Another one. Futoshi firmly stands his ground.

Why did he unknowingly perform a search of the couple's room? Because he thought that a forbidden item was hidd-

"HM." Another one, this time bigger. But now he can at least keep his own eyes open.

He stops thinking for a second to recollect himself. Futoshi feels his head a little too light and inebriated, but at the same time heftier, like his thoughts acquired more and more weight each fit he got trough. The pain that barred him from entering his own surfacing thoughts feels now feebler and feebler, but the deeper the thought, the graver his head's reaction.

He saw something even when he was in the couple's room. White and red. But now, using a vertigo-like reaction, his head is warning him to not tread lightly in that thought, if he wanted to keep his own consciousness going. He takes advice, pulling a series of heavy breaths to clear his mind further.

"Damn…" Futoshi staggers at his own mental sanity. This feels like having a minefield in his own head, no joke. And of course, he feels another fit at the 'minefield' bit… This is gonna be a challenge.

Code 376 unveils the camera from the trash sack while dangerously tilting left and right on the open ladder, being held still by both Kokoro and Ikuno, sweating like crazy at the Pistil's sudden movements.

"Yes! Thanks, everyone. Hop!" The golden-haired girl jumps down the ladder, empty sack in hand, landing perfectly on her feet. "Were you looking for those?" She flutters it at Ikuno and Kokoro, still leaning against the ladder and taken by surprise by her athleticism.

"N-No, actually we were looking for those cameras…" Ikuno leaves the ladder and stops in front of her, briefly looking at her goldenrod eyes, then continues. "…Because someone is sabotaging them and is hiding somewhere around here with his Pistil, that is most probably hurt quite a bit."

"EHHHH?" She staggers.

Code 376's smile slowly undoes itself, and her jolly attitude withers as her heart-shaped face tenses.

"He did that?" She asks.

"I don't know, but from the evidence I gathered, I am positive he didn't and was most likely an incident."

"Why… did he hide?"

"He must be panicking. He's distrustful of others, and... he's right, because Hachi is hunting him for nothing at all." Ikuno's emerald eyes engulf in flames. "I want to get to him before he does, then tell him that there's nothing to worry about, to get the hell out and go to the hospital with his Pistil, and that I will vouch for him against Hachi. I want to stop this farce once and for all."

The girl exchanges Ikuno's stare with a very serious look on her own, her puffy cheeks now tense as a rock.

"Are you sure… going against the Commander?"

Ikuno crosses her arms and her squared glasses glint brightly, hiding her eyes as she tilts her head upwards.

"We're the one running this place, including you. He can go hang himself if he thinks he can get rid of us too!"

Code 376's expression slowly enlarges into a grin, now her eyes enflamed like Ikuno's.

"Roger that, ma'am."

She turns and open the door leading to the engineering rooms followed by Ikuno, past the upward straight stairs behind the camera, still holding onto her electric broom like a massive club on her shoulder. Witnessing the march of both of them, Futoshi approaches Kokoro still holding onto the ladder, meekly watching from behind it.

"Ehm…" She moans.

He notices her distress, so encloses Kokoro's hand firmly gripping the cold frame. She feels the warm hand giving heat to her scared and shivering hands, so she meekly looks at him worried.

"Is this… fine?"

"I don't really know... It's sure a bold thing to be doing, but I feel that's the most… right thing to do." Futoshi explains slightly contrived, knowing what they were doing wasn't the most thought-out thing in the universe.

"I trust Ikuno, she's a very dependable partner, but sometimes she's very… impulsive. That's the opposite you'd think of her at just looking at her, isn't it?" Futoshi explains to Kokoro.

"Mh…" Kokoro agrees with Futoshi, and then squeezes back his warm hand, releasing the cold and hard metal.

"I'm just… what will happen now?"

"I trust the most Ikuno… but I don't know what to expect from Code 121. That's all I'm saying." Futoshi adds in a gravely serious frown. "For now, let's see… we can't know how much big the problem is until we find them."

Kokoro nods to that statement. "I agree." She then, to his surprise, takes hold of Futoshi's arm, pitting it against her chest while giving him a sweet smile. Futoshi slightly mellows his frown, while a reddish flog takes over his ears: her head leans on his shoulder and her other arm comes around him for a sweet eye-closed embrace.

"K-Kokoro… I'm in working clothes…"

She nuzzles his shoulders with her cheek. "Don't care… You're soft…" Kokoro squeezes herself further against his body. "

"Y-You too!" His pressure valve reaches almost critical failure.

The glass door opens once again, and Ikuno and Code 376 appear from the door frame stacked onto each other and a hand covering their mouth.

"Oh, look at that…" Ikuno slyly smiles, suffocating a soft laugh.

"W-W-Why are they touching each other like that…?" Code 376's spotted cheeks blush violently as she observes the two hugging. "D-Does it feel good?"

"Y-Yeah! You bet it!" Futoshi yells at the two with both embarrassed eyes closed, squeezing further a Kokoro that shifts around him to hide behind him to avoid their prying eyes.

"…It feels good…" Kokoro comments, being muffled by Futoshi's clothes.

"Could you please leave that for later? We've got something urgent to do here." A snickering Ikuno reminds the two having a sweet time. Kokoro comes off Futoshi with a ruffled smile and both take each other's hand, to be led forward by Ikuno up the stairs while being monitored by the very interested stare of a Code 376 hugging her electric broom.

Reaching the landing past the straight stairs leading upwards, they reach a large, straight corridor thirty meters long, with two big sliding doors each side wall and a platform lift leading to the FranXX bay. The quartet walks past the doors and notices the cameras installed to keep watch of the doors are enclosed in black sacks like the downstairs one.

Past those doors along the corridor, a glass slanted wall gives vision to the towering heads of the mass-produced FranXX units parked there from the day of the battle, peeking from their retention cages. On the ceiling of the retention area, gigantic arm cranes can be seen dangling from maglev railings like gigantic underground tree roots, and the disjointed bars of the massive tank cages lying abandoned on the floor down below.

"Everything looked so small… I feel an ant from here." Kokoro comments the scene in front of her, remembering how she and Mits - "Ew" she recoils - Code 326 carried around magma tanks for the rescue operation. Back then for her those felt so small while she was controlling her FranXX…

Futoshi and Ikuno open the side doors and, in each one of them, a large construction bay framed by catwalks on many levels greet their disbelieved eyes. On the ceiling dangle massive cranes embedded in rotating bases, this time with tubes running on their frames terminating in big nozzles. On the opposite wall of the one giving to the FranXX is embedded a round-shaped command station made of glass at the front and thick armor plating to the side, making view of the

"Is this the places where they build the armor and weapons for our FranXXes?" Futoshi's awed voice asks Ikuno.

"It's on top of them, so I guess that's it… I wonder how this works…" She responds in utter reverence.

"This way there's an uncovered camera." Code 376 says to the group, pointing to a camera affixed to the wall above the catwalk, level to the big double door Futoshi went through.

"They aren't there then, because they would have been recorded and logged." Futoshi says nodding to her.

"There's a netted camera here." Ikuno notices the camera that was looking at the door at the other side, specular to the one affixed on the wall on the other door. With quite the surprise, the cleaner Pistil notices the symmetry of both rooms.

"Woow, they are identical!" She exclaims.

"Modules!" Futoshi mentions. "This base is modular."

"Eh?" Ikuno says both intrigued and worried. "What does it even mean?"

"The base is built…" Futoshi pauses, being assaulted briefly by his usual migraine. "…using rooms and corridors made all the same to be easy to build and deploy… so-called modules. Then fixed together by connectors and armor plating."

"Aaaah! That's why the rooms of this place look very similar to other ones!"

Ikuno blinks repeatedly in eerie wonder for the information he casually gave to them.

"Where did you read about that?"

Futoshi shrugs, giving her a sorry look.

"I… don't remember. I guess it was… a while ago."

"Hm." Her mouth sneers at his sincerity.

"Over there…" Futoshi points at the command station. "We should check it out."

The catwalk hugs the wall, then goes up by stairs towards the encased glass station. The four of them take a careful walk along the solidly made but see-through steps, fighting against some slight vertigo. Arriving to the sliding access door to the command post, they find it yanked open, slightly slanted on the bottom.

"Crowbar." Futoshi whispers, seeing the incision on the door's lid.

"Cro-what?" Code 376 plainly asks.

Futoshi immediately turns back to the other three and places his index finger on his mouth to incite silence. He then clears the slanted doors by ducking and sliding his big frame inside the lightless station. The three girls follow him suit as he stops some steps inside the wide room, in darkness, waiting for his vision to adjust.

No one's here.

He gestures the three to stay behind him, then opens the light from the panel at his left. Immediately, the lights beam through the room and illuminate the dusty area in front of them: on his right desks, terminals and chairs all organized in semicircles progressively descending towards the center of the engineering room, connected by three stairs leading to the bottom of the command station. A gigantic curved black glass screen embedded in the lower part of the station raises tall and covers the structural glass pane that composes the internal building. On the left, in an inset room, could be seen other terminals affixed to the wall completed by black screens hanging to the wall.

"No one…?" Ikuno whispers while scanning the room with Futoshi, but then notices another camera enclosed in a trash sack and points to Futoshi.

"N-" Futoshi shakes his head. "I'm not sure."

Kokoro, not convinced, closing to him and asks away. "Isn't this all of the station?"

"I think I remember there are more-AH!" Futoshi cringes as his fit gets a surprise shot at him.

Kokoro staggers, and her mouth slowly comes open in realization.

"Remember…?" She grabs his arm, worried. "Did you just… have a fit while remembering something…?"

Futoshi slowly nods.

Kokoro's eyes enlarge. "You… you're just like me?"

Ikuno and Code 376 look at the scene unfolding just in front of them.

"What do… you mean?"

"Whenever I try to think about what happened, or think about Code 326's name, then…"

After gathering her courage, she voluntarily say out loud the name forbidden from her.

"Mits-Ah!" She squeezes her eyes to bear the pain on her head. Ikuno looks at Kokoro, then at Futoshi in a dire surprise.

"Impossible." She whispers while shaking her denying head. "Why…" Her gaze drops to the ground like a boulder. "When…? How…?"

"Were you… also brainwashed?" Kokoro asks worried.

"N-No. Wait, no! I don't rememb-" Futoshi interrupts himself.

Wait. _Of course,_ he wouldn't remember.

"A-ah…" He hangs where he was standing, staggering back and forth, his eyes open wide in terror.

After a long silence, he regains his breath and nods, abandoning himself to his conclusion. It's not that those memories are deja-vus, he experienced those images, and got told those things that pop up in his head constantly.

"If… you're having the same things as me… I guess... I did."

He comes to the most obvious conclusion.

"I-I don't know what to say… I feel… those memories… are coming from absolute nowher…-mhhn."

Once again, his hand dart to his head like it was his second nature to avoid his brain to spill out. The trio silently look speechless at each other.

"You guys will have to fill me on that later." A worried Code 376 waves her finger at them, holding her electric broom against her shoulder. They look at her even more speechlessly than before.

"I guess I don't have to hide this, then. The door's innocent!" Futoshi declares with a fake smile, that crumbles after that.

Ikuno sadly smiles.

Futoshi give them his back, facing towards the inset room where the consoles lie.

"This is like throwing myself into a grove of thorns… but to find that Pistil, I might even do that." He closes his eyes and tries to recall that room... And his head tries to reject his attempt.

"No. Don't." He orders at his memories.

If what they gathered was true, then those were HIS memories.

Those BELONGED to him.

And now he is about to get them back.

Might hurt a lot, but whatever the price to pay.

If Kokoro changed after the brainwash…

Then he wonders if he will change, too.

That's the scariest thing he ever felt.

But it can't be that bad, because the person hiding behind those memories is… himself.

He's prepared. He always felt so empty, and now he wants to be filled.

"A console." His head pops up with a suggestion, and he follows it.

To his left, a column, a seemingly empty column, but with a LCD numeric keyboard on the right side of it. He approaches it, then presses a button on it. The keyboard disappears, and a captioned empty square appears on it.

…

* * *

 **ID VERIFICATION**

PROVIDE IDENTITY

* * *

…

His head started to hurt, just a little. He hesitates, then he presses the palm of his hand onto the square of the LCD panel. A short scan, and the panel lights green.

…

* * *

 **ID ACCEPTED**

* * *

…

With great wonder, the girls look at the column transitioning into a full-blown standing console as a vertical panel slides upwards and reveals an LCD screen, physical keyboard with orange backlight and an outlet on the wall.

…

* * *

 **SECURTITY STATION**

General Alert  
Status: Orange

 **LOGGED ID**

FP40-S4MX-224 - SERIAL N. 04122  
SELECT A TERMINAL FUNCTION

* * *

…

Suddently, his vision lights up again in complete white.

…

A white room.

A black crowd, lined in rest position.

Again, gathered around a tall figure.

Against the same console he's in front now.

"…So, having attended the Security Systems' class, I'll just skim over the explanation…"

"…After logging in at the security console…"

"…If you need to track someone, just use the communicator's tracker…"

"This function here… don't forget to autocomplete the Code and it's Serial, if it needs one…"

"…It's a very restricted function…"

"…Those Officers are goddamn slackers sometimes…"

"…If something goes wrong, you will be the LAST LINE OF DEFENSE! You got that, CADETS?"

"SIR! YESSIR!"

…

Futoshi staggers backwards at the voices in his head shouting wildly. Kokoro, Ikuno and Code 376 hurry to catch Futoshi before he comes down falling back first.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Futoshi…!"

"Don't kill yourself, dude!"

He balances himself back on his feet, then returns in front of the console, almost falling onto it headfirst. Even if he smashed his head on the wall, nothing more would have happened as an incommensurable pain was already taking his consciousness away.

"Damn…" Futoshi's face whitens. He draws the chilliest breaths he ever made in his life, then faces the console, with the three girls looking at his pained expression.

"I'm fine… just a little bit more." He presses the area of the screen to select the tracking function, then fills in the form he is presented with using the keyboard, letting the system autocomplete the Stamen's full Code:

…

* * *

CODE: FP40-S1CN-121  
SERIAL: 04123

* * *

…

He enters the code, then a confirmation dialog pops up.

…

* * *

 **TRACKING ACTIVE**

RESULTS ON SCREEN  
OPERATOR STATUS: UNARMED  
DEPLOYING SERVICE WEAPON

* * *

…

A map of the surrounding area appears on the black screen, then the round outlet to the side comes open, and an ergonomic grip with a shooting trigger pops out from it.

Futoshi hesitantly extends his hand and takes hold of it, then extracts the grip out of the outlet.

White again.

…

Another white room.

But now, dummies.

A crowd and the tall figure in front of it.

Handling that same device.

"…You don't always want to get close…"

"…If the target is charging at you, don't worry…"

"…Grip tight, disengage the safety, align the sights, account for the drop, and push the trigger…"

"…A hundred-thousand volts discharge will stop the target…"

"…It even works on sausages, if you guys need something cooked fast…"

"…Just kidding! The current's too weak! Don't try this in the barracks…"

"…Respect your weapons, and they will serve you well…"

…

Futoshi smiles. He was always like that… He doesn't know who, but he still remembers his voice...

His head now is less pained, but he feels something hefty in his hand: the stun gun that he's holding completely fills the space between his fingers. That grip… is awfully familiar. He held and shot that gun before… a lot of times, over and over.

A special dart is loaded in front of the gun. Inside it, there's a high-voltage battery. When pulling the trigger, the dart shoots out and, using metal contacts, lodges into the target and discharges its current to paralyze the muscles. He pushes down with his thumb the safety release on the side of the polymer frame and the front of the gun comes apart, showing the cylindrical dart with long pins on its end.

He looks to the other two girls to his side and they slowly scatter backwards in fear, almost like seeing a stranger suddenly taking out a weapon out of nowhere.

Kokoro on the verge of crying holding her mouth, Ikuno gritting her teeth with shocked eyes and Code 376 brandishing her broom forward with aggressiveness.

Futoshi feels like being in a dream. Why are they looking at him like that?

He stares back to the console, trying to look at his own image reflected on the black LCD panel, and suddenly a pair of eyes he never met exchanged his gaze.

A pair of ice cold, ravenous eyes.

But... His own eyes nonetheless.

He looks at the floor plan on the screen in front of him and, of course, the signal from Code 121's communicator pings on the map just behind him. Futoshi turns around, and he's met by an empty wall not filled with terminal screens and a door leading into nowhere. He holsters his gun into the side leg pocket of his blue overalls and, looking at the girl's trio, points his finger forward.

"Right in front."

The girls look at his finger still scared, then at the door it's pointing at.

"I'm still me, if you are wondering otherwise." He adds.

Kokoro calms her breathing, then approaches him slowly to take his hand.

"Are you ok...?" She asks still altered from the look he gave them.

"My head is pulsating... But there's worse. And you're helping, Kokoro." He states nonchalantly while cradling her hand with his own. Kokoro's uneasiness dissipates and a smiles blossoms back on her face, while the other two Pistils calm down.

"You looked very scary." Ikuno comments, closing to the two. "Please, don't overexert yourself."

Futoshi nods without looking at her.

"The couple is past that door. There's a hidden compartment in that room."

Futoshi releases Kokoro and approaches the door followed by a silent Ikuno and a cautious Code 376. Leaning against the door he tries to hear anything behind it, but nothing can be heard, so he slowly opens the door.

A beam of light the shape of the opening door reveals parts of the dark room ahead, highlighting desks stacked beside each other, tables full of papers, orange holographic diagrams still turned on and components lying around with solders and 3D sketching devices. This is room was used recently, Futoshi thinks, as he reveals each one of the corners illuminated by the opening door.

On the left wall, looking from the door, he notices a suspicious empty space. He approaches it, then passes his hand on its surface searching for a hidden button. Eventually, his fingers feel the rim of the inlet button, causing the hissing sound of hydraulic braces to go off past the wall.

The hidden door slowly comes open, reclining horizontally and rising toward the ceiling bathing the compartment with a blade of light. The compartment feels more like another room on its own, since it's very deep and wide, almost like the room it's connected with… except it's for the most part consisting in a service lift to bring materials up from the cargo holds down below. Scattered inside there are desks, tables and chairs, on the ground are placed spare terminal parts and screens with piles of keyboards just lying around casually, ready to be used.

Past that, against the far wall there's a crumpled mass of white cleaning sheets, which a shivering little girl with brown hair, wearing a pyjama dress of about eight years old, glares in terror the quartet appearing from behind the door.

She stutters, like a rabbit in headlights.

"Y-Y-…!"

"…YORUICHI!" The little Pistil's immature voice thrills.

A masculine figure appears out of nothing beside her, wearing the gray Stamen uniform with a Y on his chest. He slowly walks towards the quartet to stop halfway, as the blade of light leaking into the room hangs at his neckline, with his eyes shining in the dark.

The eyes of a wolf wanting to protect his cub.

…

* * *

 **World in a crayon - END**

* * *

…

"The first revolution is when you change your mind about how you look at things, and see that there might be another way to look at it that you have not been shown."

\- Gil Scott Heron

Link to the discussion forum: fanfiction (dot!) net/topic/216244/174740810/1/


	12. Chapter 12 :: Gift

...

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

 **Gift**

* * *

...

In the beginning, there was light. The brightest light of all. But she didn't know, because she wasn't allowed to go outside for most of her life, as her body was too much frail.

Born in winter, but unable to sustain the cold winds of the north that endlessly lashed the white-snow Garden, the Children's natal house. A small, sorry existence that was tucked into a warm cocoon for an entire season before being ready for the world. A small respirator, a tube in her arm, white sheets touching the white porcelain skin of her cheeks, crowned by premature blond puffs of hair, sleeping tightly the winter away. "She's not ready yet, she needs more time," the white-clad person with the long gray beard kept saying, as the many incubators next to her disappeared one by one.

After the snow placated, the sun gave her the first hello through the window. The little child's light brown eyes finally opened and started beaming through the glass, registering everything and everyone in placid wonder. She stared without a pout the tall, silent people without a face, donned in a gray long nurse dresses with a single red detail on their chest, coming and going silently like a ghostly presence. Once in a while, they would extract her from her warm glass bell to change her diaper and to carefully wash her from the sweat with their gloved hands. Then, with much curiosity and wonder, she started reaching for the orange objects that other teal-colored people wearing used to scan her. After a long time that seemed a single day, her respirator and the tube on her arm were taken off, as she was ready to taste the first breath of her own outside her cocoon.

At the eve of spring, she tasted her first chilly breath of the playgrounds of the Garden. Each day, trotting along in the toddler pen surrounded by children smaller than her, she was carefully watched over by faceless stares coming from the tall gray people, before eating her sweet fruit-flavored paste, to then slide into her little warm bed for the night. Her two big cinnamon eyes, half-covered by her hickory bangs, silently stared at the other children of her age, yelling and crying, but she wouldn't use her voice... in fact, she never whined or cry even once in her lifetime.

She just stood silent, day after day, even after she learned to walk, and the others started to yell endlessly their first words after being taught. It wasn't after their speaking lessons that the gray people started worrying more about her odd silence. That's when teal-colored people with cylindrical hats, eyes covered by face shields and azure masks covering their mouth would take her apart from the others and bring her into small rooms full of big contraptions to affix on her head with a circlet made out of sensors. A gray person would come inside the room with toys and make her play while talking to her and soliciting her to speak. Day after day, she tried so hard that, after much solicitation, one day she timidly uttered her first words: "Pa-pa..."

Soon after, her visits to that room stopped.

One day, the gray-clothed people came to tell her that she was going to meet a certain person she never met, 'the Principal'. He was an important one, so she was sternly told to be a good child. She silently nodded and followed them towards the maze-like corridors of the Garden, past a big and heavy double door, where someone different from anyone she ever met waited for her.

"A rocky start, huh...?" the gray-bearded grandpa with a white as snow coat chimed as he flipped with his fingers some shining pages floating in the air, sitting on his tall desk towering onto the little girl. "Well, you're a healthy one - a bit late, but mostly healthy." She fixated his olive complexion sculptured by deep wrinkles of the man, whose contemptuous tone addressed her. She batted her long eyelashes while blinking curiously - she never looked at an old one's real face in all her life. "Although you're not the kind of child we would selecting for becoming Parasite, you have a chance of becoming one. Now, more than ever, we need good children that want to serve Papa and make Him happy."

"P-Papa? Gray... person...?" She didn't understand at all. Weren't the gray people 'Papa'? She was supposed to make Papa happy? Who was this Papa?

"Nooo, no! Papa!" the old man patiently corrected her, parting his arms in prayer. "The Saviour of Mankind, the Last Father! He guides us all, giving each one of us a purpose for the hope of a better future! Our home, our Earth!" the old man thundered in a possessed tone while wearing a dopey smile.

"Future...? Earth...?" The little child looked at him with her questioning big eyes, still deeply confused.

"Yes! Our mother Earth is under attack, and for the survival of our species we must go to war against the screaming monsters!" the wrinkly man narrated and his hands mimicking clamping hungry jaws.

"War...? Monsters...?"

"Yes, yes! Our little planet is attacked by monsters! We must cleanse the Earth from their unholy presence filled by their destructive rage, for the future of mankind! For the perfect future that awaits us Adults, and for you Children, he-he-he," the old man chuckled away.

"...Adult..."

"Yes! For Papa's vision for mankind!"

So... people with wrinkles are called Adults? And Papa is a single person...?

"Don't worry, even if now you don't understand, one day you will, and the Truth of the world will suddenly come to you. But, for now, I've got a nice thing for you," he warmly smiled.

The old man took a thin metal circlet from below the desk and gave it to a gray-colored person that silently appeared to the side of her like a ghost. The masked servant carefully pulled the circle apart, that separated into two parts with a «Clack!». The little child scuttled backward in fear, taken aback by the contraption. "Don't worry! It's a gift from Papa," the old man chimed.

She glanced him, on the verge of trusting the kind, big man. After some moments of hesitation, she closed to the contraption the gray man held at chin level. "Up your chin," he asks of her. Glaring at the masked man sporting a young voice, she extends her thin neck out so that he can wrap around the contraption on her almost ghostly body. After he closed it back with another «Clack», the girl was completely taken aback when the collar emitted a loud «Beep» and started tightening around her neck. Her hands darted to the black band, that immediately released the grip and enlarged back up more to finely adjusts to her neck size.

"Papa is giving you something made just for you!"

The gray man shoved out a mirror and showed it to the girl, that marveled at her reflected image. She touched her new collar, made of black steel and sporting a shiny LCD panel glowing of an orange hue in eerie contrast to her pale and delicate skin.

"The proof of your individuality, that will accompany you for all your life!"

Onto the LCD panel, she saw some writing she didn't understand and a number, whose meaning she just learned in classes...

7... 2... 3...

"In the name of Papa, professing his holy word for this holy task, a blessing in the form of a number I give you!" the bearded man's plea hands parted once again among the thunder of his divinely compelled voice. "I welcome you, Code 723! Be the lamb that ended it all! Grow strong and liberate humanity from its chains!"

The thundering voice of the Adult resounded clearly for weeks on end inside the little cub's mind. She was happy she got a name from Papa, whoever he was. She didn't understand anything but the fact that, apart from those silent people that looked at her every movement, there was someone else that looked after her. She wanted to say thanks, but... her voice wouldn't come out, and in the sparse times that it did, her words fell unheard. So, during playtime, she grabbed a bundle of crayons with a paper sheet and drew herself and her number, then she gave the drawing to the first gray person she could find. On top of the sheet were written the first words she managed to think of.

Thanks, Papa.

Years passed, and in her mind, the fiery image of her being given her first gift from that unknown man remained etched in her mind. And she kept pouring her thoughts into images because words still wouldn't come out on her accord. Endless streams of paper etched by her crayon-stained hands, everywhere and anytime, among the other children happily playing and sometimes joining her in drawing sessions all sprawled on the floor. The others cherished her even if her voice was hard to manifest because her smiles and expressiveness filled the gap more than enough.

"She's... silent. But yet, she has so much to tell," said one day a somehow different gray person while examining her drawings. Her uniform was gray-colored like the others but had red-lined borders and a slightly different type of hat. The little Code 723 marveled to no end when the partially masked girl curled up her mouth's sides. She was definitely different. After that encounter, her gray crayon somehow consumed itself more quickly, to her dismay.

But one day, she was called again.

"As you can see from the data, this one has been given a natural disposition to order, obedience and silence," the gray-bearded man addressed the crowd that was surrounding the little girl in the child infirmary. "As rare it might be, this is exactly the scenario dictated from protocol exemption. So, the procedure will not apply here, and no therapy will be administrated," the old man said, and in unison, every white-clad man nodded in agreement.

While sitting on top of a tall and comfortable stool, she was scanning the towering figures with wide and wondrous eyes, silently overhearing the conversation of the same old bearded man lecturing the group of young white-coated people without masks that nodded at their orange-glowing tablets. After listening very attentively to each and every sentence of the old man, they parted their stares from the orange slabs and fixated onto the little girl, that embarrassedly dropped her eyes to the white pavement.

"Now, regarding the rest of them, prepare the equipment." After grandpa's order, the masked servants scattered to the cabinets lined on the walls, opened the glass doors and took out white boxes. The men and women in white collected the boxes from their teal helpers and proceeded each to a different infirmary bed while the little girl watched attentively the one closest to her, a fair-skinned young man with black alabaster parted hair and long sideburns. He took out from the box and wielded in front of him a pistol-like contraption.

«Clack!»

He pulled the trigger and a thin syringe came out from the nozzle. The little Code 724 squealed and jumped on her seat, startled by the scary object in his hand. The light-gray-eyed doctor, piqued by her reaction of fear, looked at his attendant, whom he nodded to. The teal masked woman reached for the girl's hand and tugged her off the puffy stool, away from the infirmary bed, towards the exit. The youth let herself be led by the nurse but turned her head towards the young man wielding the syringe pistol. To her fullest surprise, he wasn't happily smiling like the gray-bearded man. He exchanged the little child a pair of sad and forlorn eyes, that slowly returned on the vial full of yellow liquid he was about to load into the gun.

She trotted along with the masked servant, and upon entering into the long corridor to the infirmary, she was greeted by an equally long queue of azure-clothed children like herself, happily bustling and talking, about to enter where she just went out from. Countless eyes exploded on her like a land mine and glared surprised at her. "723 was first!", "I wanted first, I wanted first!", "What's in there?", "Was it painful?" they hollered in unison at her. Caught by surprise by a hundred staring eyes, she hid behind her escort and proceeded down the corridor, back to the empty playground. She plopped down on a corner of the playing room and, with a vague uneasiness, she reached for her crayons and started drawing on her white color book the sad doctor of before.

Briefly after, Code 723 was startled by the loud sound of the door closing. A child that she usually played with had returned. She threw away the crayons and dashed towards his friend, hanging silently by the door. She ran at him, greeting him back with a smile... but he didn't reciprocate. He kept his gaze glued on the floor, unresponsive. The little girl silently examined him. Taken aback, she waved her little hand in front of his face, and his eyes batted like traversed by an electric shock. The boy slowly panned his eyes onto her own, but her smile collapsed.

He didn't have that light in the eyes anymore.

The spark of life, the exact one that she liked so much to see in others, was not there anymore. The eyes she looked into were blank like a clean slate, empty of any emotion or will to live. On his arm, there was a half-detached plaster stained by the same yellow liquid of before. The girl's face morphed in fear, then her hands grabbed the boy's shoulders and shook him back and forth trying to bring the light back, but he kept staring at her like a human-sized doll. She released his shoulders, aghast. Instead of a pair of eyes, she was gazing inside an empty abyss.

The door opened once more, and the female servant brought three more children from the infirmary. Her eyes widened, then looked at the others that just returned, a boy and two girls that had joined her in drawing sessions. The girls, walking in a daze, stumbled onto the toys abandoned on the floor and the boy let himself drop down sitting with a streak of drool coming from his mouth. Each one of them had a plaster on their arm peeking from the short sleeves of their uniforms.

The little 723 launched herself towards the teal nurse at the door and desperately grabbed her hand, pointing her companions still hanging where she left them. The little girl tugged the hand of the masked woman, trying to tell her that his friend was ill. To her disbelief, her big, gloved hands reached for her little one and cradled them with care. The child looked at her masked face and was taken completely by surprise. Under the mask that let only her mouth showing, she saw a trembling, extremely sad frown like the doctor's, back in the infirmary. Then, after an endless moment, a tear descended on her cheek. Like on hot coals, the woman released her hand and returned outside closing the door behind her, leaving the little one in the room's oppressive silence.

Slowly, her mates returned to the playing room, all with plasters on their forearms.

This time, Papa took something away from her. Her smile disappeared, along of those of her companions.

Time passed, and her hands stopped drawing. Surrounded by children she didn't know anymore, slowly stirring her broth at dinner time, she tasted the first spoon of solitude in her life. The solitary corner of the room was still hers, as always was. While holding onto her legs, leaning against the wall, she silently stared at his companions slowly recovering from that day and haphazardly regaining the ability to speak, while unable to do so herself. The gray people came and go like nothing happened, complicitly ignoring the sorry state of her companions, and the only difference was that the odd gray-and-red masked woman disappeared from them. Time kept passing through the same endless routine, school, playtime, dinner, sleep... and back to school.

Until that accursed day.

"Children of Papa, I have wonderful news for you!" the gray-bearded man shouted from atop the pulpit of the main hall, once again in his holiness-imbued pose. "I'm here, in front of hundreds of Papa's finest in the making, such youth and energy in front of my eyes! We're here assembled because Papa has spoken on behalf of humanity addressing you and you only, oh sacred children! And I'm here to deliver his message," he thundered with crazed eyes.

Children of varying ages lined up like soldiers in front of him looked at him without a hint of emotion or reaction from his words. The little Code 723 quickly scanned the room and realized that she couldn't count the many heads that hanged their noses in the air all around her. Past them, she saw the gray people that took care of her from her birth, lined onto the walls of the hall, along with the teal nurses and the white-clad people of the infirmary.

The old bearded man scuttled aside and knelt where he stood. In his place, a white glare appeared and, after it subsided, left the figure of a tall man wearing a golden ape-shaped mask with red, white and black robes lined with gold. Hundreds of eyes jolted awake from the abrupt appearance of the masked figure. Code 723 hanged her mouth open in shock. For the first time, she saw the person that created her, and to her absolute awe, his mystical power of appearing out of thin air.

"Greetings, my beloved children. I am Papa, the leader of humanity, your creator." Papa's voice powerfully resounded, thunderous and metallic. Every single word carried such authority and power that the little child could not divert her eyes from him.

"Children, we meet at last. I'm here to ask you something extremely important, to me and to all humanity. The Holy Day much fought for has come at last. The day for humanity to levy its head once again is upon us. The much-awaited opportunity to lift our existence from the dust of suffering and pain, to end the war that plagues our souls and to embrace our future, to achieve our evolution and become whole with perfection.

"A great evil has been fought in the south. After a battle worthy of the old world epics, felling monstrous giants and nightmares from below the Earth, our finest Parasites conquered Gran Crevasse, the last fortress of the Klaxxosaurs, vanquishing the evil within and capturing the key to our victory.

"Finally, our promised future is at hand. But, even with their bravery, many of our holy warriors gloriously sacrificed onto the battlefield and many Plantations were lost. Our forces lie bruised and torn, unable to deliver the finishing blow to the Klaxxosaurs and claim once again our beloved Earth. We are so close to victory... yet so, so far from it.

"Having said so, it is with holy authority that we, the head of the council and supreme leader of humanity, hereby decree that all of the Garden's Children would be selected for becoming Parasites and given the chance to participate in the final battle to free humanity from its chains. Whatever the cost.

"Remember. The future of humanity is in your hands. Farewell, my children." As he appeared, he vanished from thin air in a blinding white glare.

That night, Code 723 couldn't sleep. While endlessly turning in her sheets, her mind was taken away by Papa's revelation. She marveled why her former playmates weren't bothered by what happened and silently fell asleep in their bunk beds. The little girl hoped he would show his smile and gently address her, being their dear creator, but instead all she was shown was a scary mask, hiding his face like almost everyone she ever met, and an equally scary voice that shook her soul apart like the gray-bearded man. All her expectations were blown away in a single moment, displaced by the gigantic burden of the unknown. She was incredibly scared of what would happen tomorrow after waking up, so she forced herself awake to chase away that fated moment, in the fear that everything she knew would fade away without her noticing as soon as she closed her eyes.

But... wouldn't she supposed to join the Parasites...?

Somehow, after all the things that happened, she almost forgot that day in the library. She would never forget that serene smile. That tall girl that one day broke into the Children's library like she always belonged there, wearing a black overcoat without a mask. She wore a pair of squared glasses in front of green serious eyes shaped like jagged sapphires on a delicate face, giving out a mature look but riddled with light childish freckles on her cheeks. She wasn't supposed to be there, as their place was protecting the Adults and the Plantations, but nonetheless, she was there. She was there for the little child to behold.

Her black hair, tied on the back by a butterfly-shaped hairpin, reflected deep purple glances the sunlight from the windows while she went on her tiptoes to reach the last story of the bookcases. After taking out a big book, she flipped its pages with a serene longing, only to be assaulted shortly after by her - to that time still alive inside - companions that swarmed her as soon as they recovered from the surprise of her field invasion. A thousand funny expressions of the girl later, the little child, watching from the sidelines, registered each one of them with her mouth hanging in complete disarray. She felt so small in comparison to the smiling butterfly girl, towering over her companions and ruffling their hair under everyone's dumbfounded stares.

That moment lasted too short. The odd teal-and-red caretaker entered the room like a tornado and immediately intercepted the tall Pistil. The little 723 became scared at the woman harshly addressing the girl very differently from her usual self. Her companions scattered in panic, but the mature girl with the butterfly hairpin fearlessly stood her ground and lowered her head apologetically before the nurse's harsh scolding. She was not supposed to be there. After the rebuke ended, she calmly walked out of the room when asked to... but then, surprisingly, she appeared through the window giving to the library and waved her hand to the little girl's direction with the most beautiful smile she had ever seen. The child saluted back with a burning light in her eyes and the hairpin girl continued down the corridor.

While silently recollecting that moment, she stopped nervously turning in her bed. She didn't know if she would be allowed to since she had always been told to be weak, but her deepest wishes were placed in a vague hope. It was a while since her companions were taken away from her and, from that day onwards, she wished to fly away from that place. She just didn't know how, but she would go anywhere for the simple chance for her to see that smile once again. So, from that day onwards, Code 723 wished to become a Parasite. To follow that smile again, because her life was just meant for that alone. Slowly but surely, that smile behind a violet butterfly lulled the little child into the realm of dreams.

But unfortunately, some dreams are bound to become nightmares.

Feeling constrained by an invisible force, she abruptly opened her eyes waking up from her sleep. She tried to bulge, but couldn't move her head or body. In increasing panic, she took a whole minute to realize the restraint belts tying her limbs down to a hospital bed were not clawed hands tearing her body apart, that the suffocating feeling was not sleep apnea chocking her breath but a respirator mask pressing down on her cheeks while forcing her to breathe, and that the doctor beside her wasn't a white ghost plotting to take her life away.

"Aaaah!" the little child weakly yelled, and the person next to her flinched.

"You may now proceed," a familiar, vibrant old voice resounded from above. She scanned her eyes erratically around and realized she was inside a circular room with black and orange walls, but the source of the voice was nowhere to be found. She looked up and discovered that the ceiling of the room had a bright white observation deck where a circle of white-clad people was looking down from, lined up with their orange tablets and blankly staring at her like a test animal behind glass. Among them, there was the gray-bearded big old man with his powerful voice, that addressed the person beside her bed.

The young man, clad in white like the people watching from above, nodded without a word. Code 723's stare descended from the ceiling and instantly recognized him as the alabaster-haired doctor that she encountered several months before when her companions were relieved of their feelings. Without being able to move her neck, she glanced his face and their eyes crossed for a brief second. At a simple glance, the little child learned that those gray eyes were robbed of their happiness like that day in the infirmary, but they were also somewhat different... they seemed filled with something else. An abyss made of a thick gray mist of his pupils mixed with a shade of regret looked back at her.

Pallid as a sheet, his eyes instantly diverted from hers. The young doctor reached for the IV implements on the table next to him, then carefully felt her forearm bound by the restraints to find her main blood vessel. After brief grasps and pushes on her skin, he slipped the needle into her vein without causing any pain. The little lamb looked at his hands moving in masterful motions as he walked to the other side and did the same to her other forearm, then connected the implements to transparent tubes connected to a tower machine next to her bed. After done so, he further connected her little body to the machine clamping suction electrodes on the porcelain skin and pulled from the side a scanning contraption tied to the device, directing his blackened sensors shaped like insect eyes towards her terrorized face.

Without ado, the young doctor pressed a button onto the control panel and the top of the contraption parted in four sections revealing a base with a hole at the center. He ducked past the hervision and emerged back with a jet-black rugged suitcase and placed it onto the table beside him, flicked open the double lock and opened its lid to reveal a liter glass vial filled with shining red liquid encased in a foam filling. He took out the glass and, without hesitation, inserted it upside-down onto the base of the tower device, that lit itself of scarlet linings reminiscing blood drippings.

«Elixir detected. Monitoring mode active,» the machine announced, and the eyes of the scanner lit of a white hue and several hovering screens appeared onto the side of the apparatus. The man's eyes wandered onto the fluctuating readings while being observed from above, past the orange tablets. The little child noticed his hand trembling while his eyes scanned erratically several times the screens, like trying to inadvertently delay the operation.

"Proceed with the injection," the old wrinkly doctor urged from above.

The black alabaster-haired man nodded again, but his trembling hands gave away his nervousness. He flicked several floating pages and, past the status readings, found the control panel. Several interface buttons stood highlighted, and his eyes floated onto one of those. It was captioned 'Injection start'. His rocking fingers extended slowly towards the screen and were almost touching it when the little children voice thrilled behind her respirator mask.

"Will... I... become a... Parasite?"

The doctor stopped his hand and turned his head towards the little girl bound to the bed, to find her looking at him directly in the eyes. This time, the young man's guilty eyes returned the child a sudden panic surge. With his mouth parted, he tried to address her question, but no words came out. Instead, his eyes filled with inexplicable remorse as his mouth angled in a wince that carried all the pain in the world. His eyes fell to the floor like boulders sliding down a cliff. After a moment of recollection, he lifted his head back up wearing a reassuring smile, trying to be as gentle as possible.

"Yes."

The little girl perceived the fake smile and the suffering behind that act. She didn't understand why, but nonetheless, she timidly smiled at him.

"...Thanks..."

The young doctor's eyes slowly filled with moisture. He blinked repeatedly from the sudden water in his eyes and a tear descended his cheek. He immediately diverted his gaze away and covered his face with his hand to hide his emotions to seep in plain view.

"Hahahahahaha," the vulgar laugh of the old bearded doctor rocked the chamber's walls, "what a diligent child! Ready to give her life to Papa so willingly...! Of course you will be one... the finest of the Parasites! Absolutely... Now, sir doctor-in-training, I know it's incredibly emotional to be servicing such a gem, but recollect yourself and proceed at once," he ordered with a supple smile.

The young man wiped his eyes with his fingers and stared back at the control panel. His index wondered onto the buttons, stopping above a different one than before...

"Sedatives are forbidden."

His finger stopped in midair. The young doctor's stare walked up to the wall of the room to the aerial observation deck, where the eerily dopey smile of the old doctor collided with his rock-solid stare. As if He plainly returned to the panel, nodded and his index finger descended onto the correct button. He closed his eyes, breathed deeply and pushed it.

The little 723 felt the vibrations of the machine through the tubes she was linked with. With a pressure discharge, shining red liquid erupted from the machine into the IV tubes and raced towards her, that was bracing with eyes peeled for anything that might happen. The red concoction reached the IV implements and into her blood. At first, nothing happened, but after about a minute she started to feel something warm in her vessels, getting hotter by the second.

"I-it's... burning..." the little Code 723 protested. But the young man beside her kept his eyes glued to the control panel without saying anything. His hand was gripping hard the foam of the black container still open at his side. Time slowly passed, and her little breath aggravated at each second.

"A-AH!" The girl felt burning inside her body like someone poured boiling water onto her skin, but without actually burning the outer layer. Her insides started to heat up and sweat pearled her forehead.

"N-No! It... hurts!" her thrilling voice yelled, "Ah-AH! HURTS, HURTS!" Suddenly, the heat inside her body started to turn into a dancing fire that scorched her blood vessels, like magma pumped in her arteries being heated at each pulsating rhythm of her tiny heart. Then, a wave of pain originated from the heart traversed her body like she was stabbed in the center of her chest. She reflexively arched in a sudden jolt while the magma in her veins transformed into acid and started eating her insides.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

A scream of unimaginable pain echoed in the room as the retaining implements clattered while keeping down the contorting body of the little girl, involuntarily reacting to her organs being torn apart. The hand of the young doctor crumpled the black foam of the suitcase in a twitch of rage while hearing her yelps and screams, still refusing to look at her. Instead, he levied his head to the ceiling and saw the other trainees looking away from the experiment like him, apart from the old Adult doctor that was still smiling and savoring the torture with an exhilarating grin like he was witnessing the time of his life. The sides of his mouth were reaching his own ears and his white teeth showing. The young man glared at him in absolute disgust.

"Help..." the poor little 723 weakly stuttered while, from both of her nostrils, two blood rivulets descended on her face and stained the white canvas of the bed. Her vision dimmed until she could only feel her body being excavated by the serum. "Please... help... dark... it's... dark..." she begged in a suffocated wheeze, her eyes still open wide and crying red tears.

The young doctor's stare descended fearlessly and witnessed her suffering head-on. Without himself even realizing, he got close to her bed and took her small, contorting hand in his own and cradled her. She clenched back with strength, full-on fighting the elixir eating her body away. Her senses couldn't keep up and began to confuse the heat with cold as tremor rocked her body among the erratic short breaths like she was thrown into a pond of freezing water. A sudden cough shook her chest and a spat a blood shower onto her teal uniform, so he grabbed his sleeve and cleaned off the red stains on her mouth, cheeks and eyes.

Time passed in agony but, eventually, the serum stopped entering her body. Slowly but excruciatingly, the twitching subsided and the bleeding stopped, her breathing returned normal and, after a short respite, her suffering-stricken bloodied eyes awoke and met the young doctor's.

"Am... I... a... Para... site?" she whispered.

"Yes, you did well. Welcome, 723."

The little girl weakly smiled, and so the young doctor. After having fought for an hour straight, it was all over. She sighed, closed her eyes and passed out immediately with her hand still clenching his own. He slowly released her fingers and carefully touched her wrist to feel a life-filled heartbeat still gracing her mauled body. Reassured, he returned to the monitoring station and, before gluing his eyes onto her vitals, he looked up towards the observatory.

His workmates were watching him with surprise and fear, mostly because the old doctor beside them was glaring the young man below with divine ire, so much that his wrinkles warped red under his rage, while the latter sustained his disgruntled stare with calm and impassible attitude. The old doctor turned on his heels and stormed out of the observation room like a bull, and the other young doctors followed their boss like confused sheep while beaming significant glances to their colleague below, that surprisingly snickered back and ignored his mentor's scene.

After going back to the readings in front of him and confirming the child's recovery, the alabaster-haired young doctor disconnected her from the electrodes, the IV needles and her respirator. A sliding sound from behind him announced the door's opening and three sets of footsteps followed. Two teal nurses grabbed without a word the bed and rolled it towards the exit, while the last one approached him. He looked at his own hands... his white gloves were stained red by the little girl's blood.

With a single motion, he slid off his gloves and wrapped them with his blood-stained coat and gave it to her, that exchanged it with another clean set in a vacuum-sealed bag. The female nurse helped him wearing them, but after affixing his collar, she held onto it to take a long silent look the doctor's face from behind her mask. He gave her a guilt-filled half smile, then nodded to her, and she slowly released the grip. She turned, head glued to the floor, and returned outside while another bed with a bound child was brought before the young man. His expression soured instantly.

That nightmarish duty was not over yet. He had a long night shift to serve.

But eventually, like every other day, the sun rose once again.

The snow covering the endless pine woodlands surrounding of the Garden melted and the spring sun graced the land with gentle warmth, leaving pools of water where the mountains of snow lonesomely covered the dark roots of the leafless trees, that started to sprout the first buds on their high branches. Small blades of greenery tore the last flashes of white as the sleeping grass hibernating for a season under the snow finally awoke. Now the earthen path from the Garden to the small airfield next to it was almost completely visible and the boots of the little Code 723 walked along it among the pools of melted morning ice with her nose in the air, wearing her new Parasite gray dress with a half cape and a beret, both sporting the coat of arms of the FranXX drivers.

That was her first time walking out of the Garden and seeing the colors of the outside world not filtered by a glass window. Beside her, the other new Stamens and Pistils unsteadily barged along with heavy bags under their eyes and long faces devoid of any excitement, but her heart was beating happily in her chest at the beautiful nature's display that welcomed her. The road extended quite far, ending beside some hangars with a lonely control tower overseeing the several transport jets that were taxing around the concretes side strips. Accompanied by a large group of caretakers, she was walking in queue with other former children of varying ages she never saw in her whole life, her former companions not to be seen. While almost skipping her steps, she happily frilled her brand new skirt dress while trying to stare at the giant disk rising in the sky and being blinded in the process.

"Bright...!" she fumbled while covering her eyes with her free hand. Just after sunrise, her caretaker levied her up from her hospital bed, silently clothed her up and handed her a suitcase bigger than her own little body with a '723' written in big golden letters, filled to the brim with change clothes and personal effects she never had in her life. It was so heavy that a little imbalance dragged down when carrying it one-handed and the bottom grunt unto the path's gravel. "Aw!"

Reaching back the handle with her other hand, she jerked it back off the ground under the uncaring gazes of the masked people peerlessly watching them. She was still weak from the day she received the Elixir. Her complexion was of a dangerous white and her muscles didn't work as well as before, but she still walked proudly along with a beaming smile to the open landing deck where she would be brought to the front lines to know her Stamen and begin her service as Pistil. The fresh wind of the north still blew gently on her cheeks, carrying the scent of a new life while the warm sun rays were warmly greeting her on her way to the future that she so strongly wished for.

Reached the airfield, they were loaded into several fixed-wing personnel transports that, on by one, accelerated the runaway and lifted off while digging the cutely panicking Code 723 onto her comfy seat against the side of the plane. As the plane parted with the ground the sudden acceleration subsided and the view of her passenger window wiped off the spike of fear from her face. Past the glass, she saw the entirety of the Garden, a round white complex shaped like a cone and, beside it, a black thing with an orange sphere on top towering the tallest of the trees. Her mouth rounded with wonder as the leafless treetops sped beneath her and the white and light-green ground became smaller and smaller, so much that she could hold the campus within the palm of her hand. Then, slowly, became invisible among the white forest surrounding it.

"Sea!" she yelled, excited with eyes open wide against her window, swinging her legs and everyone woke up from their trance as the giant mass of water appeared through her side window. With apathy, the other Parasites glanced from their windows but groggily returned to stare the back of the seat in front of them without a word. "Hmpf!" she pouted at the general disinterest. Without making herself seen, she opened her suitcase placed under her seat and grabbed her drawing set to satisfy an urge, previously lost, that now resurfaced due to her absolute excitement. Below her, rocky and sandy coasts giving an infinite blue shining white due to the sun still being low. Then, after some minutes, the green and white colors gradually subsided and glints of red earth interspersed the landscape that lost more and more vegetation the more south they went and, after less than an hour, it completely transformed in an orange and red rocky desert extending from kilometers on end. A mess of old ruins, crevices, mountains... and a shining lonely lake, embedded among said mountains like a drop of blue paint on a red canvas. At its center, a white donut with a gigantic tower beside it.

"Estimated time of arrival: 11:50. All passengers, fasten your seat belts."

At the pilot's announcement, everyone bustled on their seat to grab the black synthetic belt over their shoulders and clamped it onto their respective belt locks. Code 723 flinched and hurriedly shoved back the drawing set inside her suitcase and affixed her own seatbelt. A slow deceleration accompanied the plane as the ground became closer and closer until she could see a gray strip similar to the one she left hours ago. A sharp bump and the ground appeared beneath the plane, whose brakes engaging with a loud screech.

As soon as the plane stopped beside some hangars, the gray caretakers silently got off their seats and incited the Parasites to exit from the front. After the majority of them silently took their luggage and got out without a word, the little girl shoved out her heavy suitcase from below her seat and tottered under its mass towards the exit. Reached the door, a caretaker finally stepped in to carry her impossible burden and avoid her tripping down the escalator literally in front of everybody. Stepping her boots on the ground's concrete, she took her burden back with a bow and, in the distance, she saw a group of people was waiting for them beside the control tower. A male officer clad, thin physique in a black uniform with short hair orderly combed like a prince, small eyes and a smug smile greeted them.

"Newborn Parasites, welcome to Bird Nest. You will be shortly assigned to your partners. Follow me," he addressed the group with a noble voice, and everyone did so, leaving the gray caretakers behind to observe from the sidelines. Among the loud noises of the other transport jets that skimmed the runaway clouding the sides with thick clouds of red sand, she started walking along with the group. The little girl giggled happily realizing her partner was among the one she was walking towards, completely psyched to meet the person she would start her new life with. It was while getting closer that she could manage to focus the details of their faces and... noticing that those with Parasite uniform were way, way older than her. And apart from that, was then that the little Code 723 realized a little something.

No one was smiling.

"Line up here," the officer ordered. She and her travel companions did what was being told and formed a line about ten meters in front of the greeting party composed of tall and mature Stamens and Pistils, orderly waiting on the ready dressed in high uniforms like the others. With a single cursive glance, she instead dismayingly found bandages peeking from their clothes and old scars showing on their faces, collars, arm slings, and most importantly... eyes made of solid suffering, looking into the void, stoic faces hiding unfathomable pain. She immediately understood they were hurt in many ways than one. She looked straight in the eyes of the Pistil that was in front of her, but she didn't react to it, as her stare was glued to the floor's concrete. Not only her, but the rest of the others beside her were also staring the ground in front of them with a general disinterest that looked like almost apathy and resentment.

"Stamens and Pistils of Plantations 54, 29, 96, 67, 41. You will be presented to your new FranXX companions."

Her travel mates were as surprised as her, even quite fearful, of their future companions lined in front of them. This was far from the encounter she expected. The purple-haired Pistil with the butterfly hairpin smiled so beautifully that day, so brimming and welcoming to us... so why are they so sad and battered? Why are they refusing us all with their rock-solid stares? Their presence was looked upon more like a nuisance like they weren't welcome... then, Code 723 staggered a little as a sudden thought beamed her.

New companions? Doesn't it mean they had...?

"Code 289, step forward."

The little Pistil returned to reality. The officer just read out of a tablet the code of someone. In front of her a tall girl, pretty with black long hair gathered in a loose tail and with a bandage on her right eye parts with her line and stands in front of it proudly like a princess.

"Code 411, come here to greet your Pistil."

A pause, then a little deep-brown-haired Stamen from Code 723's group hesitantly steps in while keeping his reddened face glued to the ground. He inched forward, shoulder slumped, in front of the girl that was a good thirty centimeters taller than him.

"H-h-hello! I-I'm... Code 411! N-nice... to meet you!" he shouted to the ground while bowing.

The Pistil jerked her head up in surprise. She glared at him, actually squaring her Stamen properly for the first time. As soon as she confirmed she was quite the age below her, she quietly sighed. Seeing that the boy was still head-down towards her, her mouth's side arched upwards a little. Reciprocating his politeness, she returned the bow.

"Nice to meet you. My Code is 289. Looking forward to our cooperation."

That was a smile, that's for sure! Code 723 beamed of joy as she caught her like catching a butterfly with a net. Her nervousness finally subsided, as maybe the older Parasites weren't all hard like the concrete they were staring at incessantly. After their greetings, the officer sent them towards a white four-wheeled personnel transport vehicle waiting behind them. Recovering from their bows, they walked one beside the other to their pickup, the little Stamen proceeding with his head still slightly bowed while being towered by his staggeringly tall Pistil.

One by one, all the Stamen couples were called forward and greeted without much grandeur. The little Pistil had chills down her little spine and her skin on end each time a Stamen inched forward, but her code was never called out. The officer called every new Parasite in ascending order, and she had the largest code of them all. One by one, the Pistils and Stamens beside her thinned down until she was the last, nervously waiting to greet his Stamen... Until she had him in front of her eyes: a tall Stamen in ritual cape and hat with thick strands of coal-colored long hair tied in a loose ponytail, a parted fringe accompanied by long thick strands falling against his temples hiding his eyes.

And just one was waiting where the line was, and the caretakers among with a couple of black people with big masks the little 723 had never seen before. Everyone was waiting for the formalities to end already, awaiting bored with arms crossed.

"Code 121. Forward..."

At the officer's call, the Stamen with code 121 remained immobile where he was. The officer, the Guards beside him, the gray caretakers, everyone was blankly staring the still scene, waiting for the boy to come forward... but he wouldn't step forward as everyone did before. No one was processing what was happening, the officer included when he refused to budge a single inch.

"...Code 121, make a step forward," the officer repeated thinking the boy didn't hear him.

"...Is this a joke?" the boy asked in a whisper.

Lightning crossed everyone's face, and their expressions became a mix of aghast, surprise, dismay and shock. The little Pistil jerked equally shocked at the boy's reaction and the officer parted his gaze from his tablet and diverted it onto the boy's stiff shoulders.

"No, 121... this is not a joke. Step forward."

The Stamen whose code was 121 clenched his fists and his lips clamped shut, compressed by disdain. All around him, the caretakers silently stood on edge. The little Pistil felt a being pierced on her chest... was she being refused by her stamen?

"Are we... this much replaceable to you?"

No... it wasn't that.

"Code 121. Don't make me repeat myself more than thrice. I said. Step. Forward."

But the stamen stood where he was, showing his unwillingness to obey the stern officer.

The little 723 couldn't help herself but wonder what 'replaceable' meant. She didn't understand anything of what was happening to her Stamen but wanted to anyways. So, while everyone was glued on him, she squatted behind her luggage as a shield to reach past his bangs... So, as soon as she had a little glimpse of his eyes, she saw...

...Loneliness, regret and rage.

Noticing the little Pistil squatted in front of him, hiding behind her suitcase and peeking with her head tilted to the side, his gaze veered away taken completely off by her odd behavior and displayed a flustered glimpse that briefly covered his anger. He didn't even acknowledge her presence at all until she barged in front of his eyes... so he wasn't mad at her or anything. Something must have happened between him and that officer. Maybe the hidden bandages and the forlorn eyes of his fellows meant more than she thought at first.

"Hm. Suit yourself, then." The officer glanced to the two Guards, that simultaneously reached for their waists and took out their batons that extended with a metallic «Clack», waiting for the officer's order.

To 723's surprise, he had the same light in his eyes that her disappeared companions had, in a time she didn't remember anymore. Maybe... he was exactly like her. Someone stole the smile of everyone around him, then proceeded to rob his own. After finding himself among people he didn't understand anymore, everything became scary as he started to hate everyone and everything... until they hurt him deeply. The same that happened to her. She didn't know, but she could feel it.

The man in officer uniform nodded to the black guards, before returning with an uncaring grin to his tablet. The bodyguards nodded and menacingly walked towards her stamen from behind, batons at the ready. She jumped up from her squat thinking they would take away the only person that could understand her, so she had to do something because this fated encounter wouldn't happen a second time. It's either now or never.

So, like the ones that previously greeted their new companions, she took her luggage and ran desperately in front of him in a desperate attempt to push forward that odd ceremony that the grown-ups liked so much. She stopped in front of him, "U-UHM!" she shouted haphazardly to gain his full attention.

The officer jumped from his tablet and the two guards froze on their tracks like confused statues. Every spectator acted like a lion appeared in front of them, but instead, they found a flustered bunny with an iron determination growling like one. The long-haired boy had his rage washed away while his thin-slit eyes enlarged, completely speechless before his supposed new Pistil that ran up to him to shout him down.

"I-I'wm," she tried to articulate, "I ahm...!"

 _Oh no, not now!_

Everyone fixated on the little Pistil, officer and guards included. The former's eyebrow arched upwards to the little girl and, to respond to the two guards' gazes, he waved his hand to stop them. He wanted to see what was happening. The girl fumbled some more while her cheeks reddened, then her face morphed into an angry pout while she asked herself why it must have happened that moment, out of every other. But then, suddenly, she beamed in understanding when she realized something went out of her head among all the excitement.

She took her suitcase and opened the double lock with a «Clack!» under everyone's stares, now more confused than ever, opened the lid and rummaged inside to bring out a double sheet of paper tied together by transparent tape. She was so happy that, on the plane, she thought of her inability beforehand and prepared that just in case! Beaming like the sun, she opened the drawing and held it in front of her Stamen. An azure sky with a stylized yellow sun, white-clad trees beside the deep blue sea, the green grass and the brown earth, captioned by red letters, like the big X sewn on the chest of her dress.

«Hello! Nice to meet you! I am Code 723, let's work well together!»

The Stamen in front of her was taken further down the road of surprise when the little girl shoved in front of his eyes a childish drawing with the greeting words that couldn't come from her mouth. That was enough tho, as all his animosity just melted away in front of her beaming smile and, unable to restrain himself, he burst out in laughter behind his teeth at first, then out loud when unable to suppress it.

"Ptf-hahahahahaha!" he shamelessly chuckled while holding his belly. The silent watchers looked among themselves clearly agitated while the Officer crossed his arms, eyeballing the Stamen clearly unamused, although willing to give him a second chance.

"Well... nice to meet you too!" he said with a rasping voice carrying care and respect. After that, he recomposed himself with a deep breath and graced her with a calm expression. The little Pistil froze herself and lowered her drawing while fixating on her tall Stamen that made a step forward and bowed to her composed like a soldier. "I'm Code 121 and, well... I'm looking forward to being your Stamen."

She made him smile! Her eyes exploded with happiness as she jumped up and down excited like a puppy, realizing his sadness disappeared from his eyes because of her, and no one else. Now it was clear to her as day that, if all of the smiles in the world were robbed and taken to a faraway place, not everything was lost. Because...

If he had his smile taken from him...

...then she would give him her own.

...

* * *

 **Gift - End**

* * *

...


	13. Chapter 13 :: Worlds colliding

...

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

 **Worlds colliding**

* * *

...

Not even fully through the wide overhead door, a thrilling call filled with fear deafens their eardrums.

"Yoruichi!"

Ikuno, Futoshi, Kokoro and Code 376 halt immediately on the spot, suddenly startled. Their nervous gazes bounce off the dark walls hidden by the piles of shelves and tables full to the brink of electronic doodads, looking for the source of such outburst still ringing deafly in their ears. Silence propagates inside the service elevator room as they scan for any hostile reaction coming from the piles of junk abandoned on the tables lined up on the wall in front of them until a sudden movement magnetizes their attentions in unison. A dark silhouette was looming towards them, generating from one of such tables.

As the light from the room with holographic stations climbs the floor and reaches the opposite wall, the room's twilight dissipates, revealing a little girl roughly almost in her teens sitting by the far wall, half-hidden among white bed covers, shivering in fear while blending among the general confusion. The black shadow closes in and stops between the group and the little girl, until the light Black center-parted long hair tied back in a long tail, angled, thick, black eyebrows over jet-black eyes squinting for the sudden flash, canine eyes passing over the group while glowing from the overexposure of the room, until the overhead door open fully and the warm yellow room lights suddenly switch on. A stamen more than halfway in his teens blocks their path with fists clasped shut and his body's muscles tensed up, standing like a guardian statue carved out from a slab of pure hostility.

"Who are you? What do you want? You're not welcome here," he addresses the group with a rasping growl.

Ikuno instinctively takes a step back, taken completely by surprise, while Kokoro, stricken by a sudden surge of fear from the guardian's leering eyes, scuttles behind the safe wide back of an open-mouthed Futoshi. The blond-haired pistil, Code 376, doesn't step back and ends up locking eyes with the boy in front of her. "E-ehm...!" she fidgets, then presents her vacuum broom to him.

"C-Cleaning duty!" she acutely stutters, bending her face into a clearly insincere smile. Everyone stops in their tracks and turn their heads towards her in complete disarray.

"H-Haaah...?" The boy's right eye starts twitching uncontrollably.

"Y-y-you want to live here, i-in this complete mess!? Hahaha, d-don't make laugh! Don't you see...?" She ducks and passes a finger on the floor, that comes right up stained of red dust. "T-the sandy dust! This belongs to the desert outside Bird Nest! And, why would you want to stay in this disorder anyways? Why aren't you in the Sph-"

"It's not your business," he plainly states in an ice-cold tone, hastily recovering from Code 367's bent throw. "Also, don't give me that crap. Why are YOU here?"

Her shoulders jump and her chastised gaze falls to the floor. Ikuno tries to speak up, but she's interrupted by Futoshi's severe interjection. "Hey! Watch your tone!" he barks.

"I talk as I please."

"You absolutely don't!"

"No, wait... let me do the talking." Ikuno grabs his Stamen's shoulder to interject the back and forth between the two, trying to avoid the discussion to spiral down into a wordfight... or worse. Futoshi hangs his mouth open, then collapses it shut, forcing himself to relent his tongue at Ikuno's request.

"...Sorry."

She nods, then turns to the long-haired stamen and looks at him straight in the eye. After a long second of silent weighting one another, she speaks up.

"I'm... I'm Code 196, Ikuno. If you remember, we've met at breakfast."

"I know," he interjects, lapidary.

"...Yeah. And, we know of Code 723, too." She points to the little girl watching her from under the stark white bedsheets. Code 121's left eye twitches, but he doesn't break the stare.

"We were searching for both of you. Back at breakfast, when you brought her out, we were very much surprised."

"Surprised? Were you... surprised that I was telling the truth about her and not getting more rations? Are you here to give your apologies?" A contemptuous grin paints on his face.

Ikuno's mouth angles a little. "Well... no. I was expecting you to return eventually, but... not with her."

"What do you mean? Heh, never seen a little girl before?"

Ikuno mouth angles some more, bent by annoyance. "...Of course, I did. But that's not it... matter of fact, I expected someone healthy instead."

"Well, daaamn." The stamen opens his arms wide to drive his point further. "Ever thought that, maybe, I went to get her breakfast in her stead because she wouldn't feel good doing the queue with all that crowd?"

"Yeah, well... Maybe the rules for getting the rations are too strict, for this I apologize on our behalf. But even then... why would she be in that state in the first place?"

"She's sickly. It's normal for her."

"Normal? I don't know about that, nothing was recorded of her on the medical side of things." Ikuno pushes her squared glasses up her nose. "Look, I can understand if it was an accident or anything... but we know everything." After weighing the tense silence of the room, then she continues. "She's injured and needs help."

His eyes suddenly narrow up and his head slightly inches to the side. "Injured...? What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, we know enough! What did you do to her? Spit it out!" Futoshi shouts, pointing at him in an accusing tone.

Code 121 shakes his head, aghast. "What I've done to her...? What the hell are you talking about! She's my Pistil! Why would I do something to her?" he asks the group, visibly taken by the quick.

"Are you that blind you didn't realize that your pistil looks white as a ghost? Don't play dumb, why is she like that? If it isn't your fault, then why are you hiding her from everyone!?"

"That's none of your business, big boy. Cut to the chase! Why did you track me down? Do you want to take her away? Hell no, over my corpse you will!"

"She's injured! She's gonna get ill more if she's not treated properly!"

"Wh-! Stop saying she's injured, it's not goddamn true! You don't know jack shit about her, don't you act as you know more than me on what I have to do! I know what are you getting to, and my answer is NO. Now, get out from here and leave us alone, no one called you here!"

"Not true...? What... are you... playing at! This is not a game!" Ikuno remains speechless in front of the impenetrable rubber wall of the long-haired guy built in front of her. Is this guy for real? Lying straight at their faces like that?

Futoshi grit his teeth in rage then points again his finger at him in an accusing manner. "You're an awful liar! There was a sack full of bloodied bed covers inside your room! Tell me now, how she's not injured?"

"Y... Y-You've...!" Code 121's face, whitens and his eyes widen dramatically like hit by a cold shower. He loses his previous controlled composure to uncover his canine eyes, trembling in a swirl of rage. His fists clasp and his shoulders aggressively arch forward to ragingly blurt out "Y-You trespassed in our room! How dare you!"

"Gotcha! If she's not injured then explain that one, you ass!"

"Ch-! You...! You shouldn't have done that! No one gave you permission! Who do you think you are? It's our place! It's not yours to raffle through! Were you stalking me? Since when?" Code 121's stare drops to the floor like a rock, although glaring like lasers are beaming off his eyes. Ikuno understands that Futoshi's intervention fished him out of the waters, but instead of a fish, they pulled out a raging monster. Appealing to his responsibility as a Stamen didn't work, but it didn't look like his objective was to hide it, he's way more pissed about his room being trespassed. Correction, their room. And to be watched upon, too.

"Of course. I would that over and over, you have something suspicious to hide! Drop the act and spill the beans! What have you done to her?!" Futoshi orders him.

"Futoshi, he didn't-"

"Grr! Thieves! There's nothing to spill out!" Yoruichi's face morphs in walks long strides towards the group with an ire that would move aside mountains. "Now get the hell out of here! IMMEDIATELY!"

Everyone steps backward, completely taken aback by Code 121, striding forward like a train in a collision course, except Futoshi. As soon as he picked up the sense of danger of the stamen striding menacingly towards him, his head starts to swell again and an instinct surfaces from deep inside him, telling to not move. Even more, the pressure in his head urges him to step forward to intercept the aggressor, to not back down and use his body. As soon as his foot closed further the gap between the two, something in his brain switched on and his body tensed up like a stone.

"Halt." A different voice gravely resounds from his throat.

Yoruichi halts on his tracks before the big figure blocking his way, double the size he was a second before. His ire fades for a second, then revamps back up in a last-ditch attempt at sounding menacing.

"Else?"

"Else your brains are gonna spill on the floor, instead."

"Futoshi...!" Ikuno gasps. The room freezes below zero while the rest of the girls covers their mouth in shock. The little girl, sitting at the opposite side of the room, suddenly hides her face under the white sheets she was tucked into with a rabbit-like squeal.

"Whoa! OK, OK, big boy, message received..."

His hands raised in a sign of yield as he slowly retreats, taken by surprise by Futoshi's sudden change in... about everything about him. The big guy's previous mellow and tranquil eyes are now engulfed up in raw, primal emotion, with his body seemingly enlarged twice the size... even his voice seemed different. He thought the group would just leave if he had shown them some little intimidation, but he gravely misjudged his opponents, flipping the situation on its head. Realizing he made a mistake, he backs to his previous spot and tries to engage with him with words instead.

"...Who are you?"

"Futoshi."

"Huh...?" His left brow suddenly arches. "Your nickname... sounds familiar."

"I don't know you."

"Yeah..." The black-haired stamen looks pensive to him, then lightly shakes his head, taken aback like surprised by his own words. The two stand in front of each other, judging one another while trying to decide who is prey and who's predator. Kokoro's hands tremble as she's gripping her chest, scared of belonging into the animated discussion, but almost misses Code 376 stepping forward and standing beside Futoshi, imposing like she never appeared.

"Could you please stay calm? I don't want to use violence, but I know very well how to defend myself," she addresses the black-haired stamen, purposely resting her long broom vertical on the floor, like a lance. "But honestly, what do you think we would have done when that little one is hurt like that?" she points the little girl sitting on the wall opposite to her, still hiding and softly wimping under the white blanket. "As soon as I heard about it, I could not stay put and do nothing about it. Sorry for intruding, but please understand why they've been looking for you. Could you blame our situation, really?"

"Nah, I don't buy this even for a moment. Just searching a kilometer-wide base and just casually stumbling on this room seems like quite the stretch. How did you know where I live? And who told you I was here? Who helped you find me, huh?"

"If I told you, will you trust me?" Ikuno interjects.

"Depends."

"...The Commander Hachi."

"Hah... as expected. Are you working for him?"

"We volunteered on checking the place for him."

"Hah...! Hahaha! Thanks for admitting it, finally!"

"Wh-What do you think I'm admitting? Who distributed the food, who kept the place running, who took care of the injured? We did! What do you think we were doing all the time?"

"Playing his game, of course."

"His game...? We've been running this place on our own since Gran Crevasse!"

"On your own? Hah! A parasite, talking about free will...!"

"B-but what are you-"

"You're just his disposable chess pawns, like every Parasite ever. Why would I trust you? Your word doesn't mean jack ass compared to his power. You obeyed his orders and fell right into his hands!"

"Disposable... chess... pawns? Wh-What the...? What in the world...! We're... we've been asked to help because we've had the experience to do it! We lived alone, in our Plantation's Mistilteinn for months since it was disabled, alone and without any help! Also, Hachi never considered us... pawns..."

"What? You, alone? Hahaha, don't bullshit me! Are you telling me you've been left on top of a disabled plantation living your merry way while we were preparing to battle? At least put some effort, will ya?" Yoruichi snarkily remarks. "Also, could you be more naive? Are you seriously thinking someone like an Officer could have treated you more than such? Where did you live until now, on the moon?"

"It was true! Stop disrespecting my friends, you asshole!" Futoshi yells. "We managed to do it, all alone! We don't need someone like Papa to manage to live on! We can do it ourselves! And Hachi never treated us ill, Papa did! It was all his fault, he never respected us!"

"Pfffff. You don't even..." Yoruichi theatrically shakes his head, "Who do you think the 'Perfect future' they had us believe was for? For us? Ha! Hahahahahahaha! Hahaha... No." He closes his eyes and squeezes his nose's neck in his fingers, then releases a sigh, "I truly goddamn wonder where you lot lived because, for me, it was clear as day where my place was. I knew very well that my duty ended... was exactly where my life ended. Day after day, it became as clear as the glass of my cage, from the day I learned that the hard way, that we were just bodies to throw away, stepping stones for their ideals and toys for their pleasing, fighting a war we didn't begin and didn't understand, to earn no more than a grave... while covered in empty praise.

"So tell me, why would I trust him? And... you? What about you? Why would I trust someone that is friends with such a kind? Did you get on his good side? Did you give him favors? Did you work with the special forces, so you got a merry beautiful life in the comforts of being a good son of Papa, seeing that you were so pampered? Do you think I would trust you, given this?"

"We... we were just a normal squad..."

"Normal my ass. You're far, very far from normal. You're abnormal as heck."

"Right back at you." Futoshi remarks.

"Hum..."Among the bickering, Kokoro takes the word from behind Futoshi, taking a little of courage to face him. "S-Sorry... but... I can vouch that what Ikuno said is true. We are just a simple parasite squad. We had been left stranded there since the first battle of Gran Crevasse, with the promise that they would pick us up... it took a long time before we would be able to leave, just before the start of the second battle. We learned how to get food, to cook, to mend our clothing... to live by ourselves."

"..." Yoruichi stays silent.

"B-But... why are you behaving like this? I mean... I don't know you, how you've... lived until now, but... please, try to make an effort and give us a speck of trust. I don't want to harm her, your pistil, and not even you of all people. When I saw there were injured parasites that couldn't go out from their rooms and take what they needed, I couldn't help myself and wanted to do something for them, and... Hachi agreed with me and said he would have asked us to help anyways.

"It's true... Hachi... did some wrong things in the past too, and maybe even recently... but I think it's because he's... not like us, he does things... mostly his way. B-But-! I think he needs someone to make him notice he's looking at problems in the wrong way. I know him for a while and I would never call him cruel or uncaring. He... he has compassion. I think that we need to talk this over and... understand what's wrong and... change it. I believe...! I believe we can all live together without fighting or hating between ourselves. Please believe me!"

Yoruichi squints his eyes at her, "I know you. You're... Kokoro, the girl that went room to room to bring stuff to others?"

"Yes. We've already met... but I'm pleased to meet you again, Yoruichi. I never intruded in your life, but hearing what they found inside your room, the blood inside the trash sacks, and then that you both disappeared... I started to worry a lot because I thought there was something wrong, and wanted to make sure you were well."

"I see." Yoruichi daftly smiles to her, softening his previous hard as stone expression. "I kinda understand where you're coming from. I thank you for worrying about us, but...I think your kindness is being used."

"No one is using me...! I'm here because I want to!"

"You just don't realize."

"But...! She's not well, I can see it right now! She needs to be looked over by-"

"No. Sorry." He shakes his head. "That's not going to happen."

"Why...!" Ikuno gets back at him. "She's in your care, Code 121! Why won't you take her to the hospital! Why don't you want to help her!"

"I told you, I'm already helping her," Yoruichi glares at them, "because those people... commanders, caretakers, doctors or nurses, everyone that runs the place... are monsters in human clothes."

Ikuno's head jolts backward in complete aghast. "Monsters?" She shakes her head vigorously. "Hachi is not a monster! He managed to pull us through our Parasite service without disrespecting or abandoning us! You don't know him, so don't tell me how to feel about him! Yes, he may be managing badly, but I'm sure he's not doing this out of ill intentions, just as Kokoro said." Ikuno does a step forward to look properly the thin-eyed stamen. "And what about Code 013? I agree he's an ass, but not a monster in the slightest. Are you even remotely aware is that it's thanks to him and the others in the hospital camp back at Gran Crevasse that the injured Parasites are still alive and kicking? He's arguably the sole Parasite that helped us all going through the first days without a single death, and does his best to get everyone away from illness! Why would you call him a monster of all people?"

"Ah, Ikuno-girl... what if they didn't want you to see that?" Yoruichi pointed his finger at his own eyes. "Are you a hundred percent sure that the doctors didn't hide their deaths or suddenly started to cull the unfit without anyone noticing? I bet you didn't even think about it, so engrossed you were at obeying their orders. Of course, you know nothing... because you can be led to believe everything they want." Yoruichi points his finger past Futoshi, pointing directly to her like a lecturer. "Like the others, you either don't understand or you refuse to see what they did, and what they are capable of. But that's still OK because I don't need your permission to do as I see fit. I saw in first person what happens to the unusable parasites... and to be honest, that's enough for me for a lifetime."

Yoruichi turns his back to the group and proceeds towards his little pistil, "Now, since her condition hit once again, she may not be able to pilot now, so I don't want to risk it." He squats in front of her, takes her cloth up to her eyes to dry the tears pearling her cheeks. She meekly smiles to him and grabs his sleeve, hanging onto it like an anchor, while his other one passes onto her thin hickory hair in a caress. Getting up again, he once again positions himself between her and Futoshi.

"I don't want her gone. You can do everything you want to me. Beat me, curse me, or remove me from existence. But not her. So... she's going nowhere. End of the line," he states calmly but with determination.

"But there's no Papa anymore!"

"Hahahahahaha! Yeah, Papa is gone! Good riddance, the monster of monsters! But... I bet you won't even think about a little, itty-bitty detail."

"Yeah...?"

"Where are the Klaxxosaurs?"

"The Kl... Klaxxosaurs...?"

"Yeah, the blue monsters. Papa is gone, but what about them? Do you think that they just disappeared from thin air -poof!- like that? Are you beyond serious? Heh... hehehehe..." Yoruichi softly laughs covering his mouth with his hand. "Did you forget why we're here in the first place?"

Ikuno hangs by his lips.

"We're tools. Weapons. Just that, nothing more, nothing less."

"..."

"We exist to be used."

"This is..."

"This is reality, my very own reality. Since some time ago, it has been in the back of my mind constantly. Then..."

"No..."

"Yes. History is gonna repeat again, whatever we want it or not. And I'm not up for it."

"No! It's not gonna...!"

"Yes, it will. Did you think for a second about the predicament we're in? Nothing changed from before, the Klaxxosaurs are going to return for our lives. We have killed countless of them, and they had never stopped coming. Now that we're at our lowest, there's nothing to impede them to deliver the final blow, but the Adults are not gonna just stand by and let themselves be killed. They're gonna round us up again, brainwash and make meat shields out of us, as they had always done. And finally, become what we were grown to be... dead."

Yoruichi looks inside Ikuno's eyes. "There's no world made for us here."

Ikuno slumps her shoulder, at a total loss for words.

She never encountered such an impenetrable and single-minded person in her whole life. His world view is shaped in a completely different way compared to hers, so much different that a very clear doubt materializes inside her. Was it true that their life was considered just a tool? Was it true they would be thrown away without regard when useless, discarded as soon their combat capabilities failed them? She couldn't tell that she was pampered and treated more fairly than their peers of other plantations, mostly because... she never interacted with anyone past her surroundings.

After born into the garden, reaching mature age, she was shipped directly into their roaming city fortress completely in the dark. She was taught everything about math, physics, science, computers, all the necessary details of the logic behind their FranXX, but she was never told about the world outside and the and humanity's predicament. Most importantly, she was kept away from what happened in the background of the society she was grown into, then by extension, she didn't know what happened inside the other Plantations and how was the life of the Stamen and Pistils that lived there. They were essentially left in the dark of everything and encouraged to not follow their natural curiosity, because a good Son of Papa would blindly trust his word and serve his demands in exchange for an idyllic life into the biosphere on top of their roaming city-fortress, containing the last verdant remnants of the biology of Earth, a planet now reduced to an ashen battlefield. Maybe... in other plantations, tragedy was the norm. Maybe... the life she lived was just a one-off, a happy product of chance and opportunity. Maybe... past their glass cage, the terrifyingly unthinkable happened.

No... she actually did encounter someone from outside, apart from Zero Two and the Nines. The Plantation 27's Parasites, which she carried out a joint operation with months ago. She never saw them again after they separated... At that time, before the operation, they looked gravely beat up, wearing bandages and walking aids, silently carrying themselves with slight apathy, very formal and almost characterless, essentially ghostly presences floating about. She waved off their personality as a sign of seniority, having developed a mind of steel among constant battles against the Klaxxosaurs, but now... if Yoruichi is telling the truth, then the emptiness of their eyes wasn't a product of something to be proud of, but a sign of a soul crushed into ground, viciously and systematically.

Would anyone blame himself for this kind of ignorance...?

She realized she cursed the world for wanting to illuminate the wide dark spots of her ignorance, while she didn't even make a significant effort to do so. Unlike Hiro, that always had an impulse for curiosity and constantly risked his health to satisfy it, she didn't even try the simpler things looking past her cage. All her books were about stories far removed from reality, fantasies of hope and camaraderie, duty, adventures in the name of discovery... but in the end, she was fine with the little life she had. Ikuno just asked to stay with her best friend and most important person in her life, Ichigo, in the very probably short life she had still available. Even if clad in blissful ignorance, she was happy... so was it worth to throw it away just for a fleeting curiosity...?

The happy Ikuno, enjoying her little, perfect world.

Unforgivable.

A brief silence takes the room while a distraught Ikuno fixates the steel pavement, bitterly lost in her thoughts.

Tickled by restlessness, Futoshi angers again and sternly addresses the stamen with long, black hair gathered in a long tail like words were throwing themselves out of his throat, waking Ikuno up, "Protecting... Is this really your version of protecting someone? It's more like planting your head into the sand!"

Yoruichi's face petrifies as his bewildered eyes suddenly widen. Regaining his senses back, he grins back to him like after being stabbed in its weakest. "Why would you care in the first place? You're just following orders!"

"No, we're here because we want! It's our duty..." Futoshi suddenly stops talking and his hand passes over his red parted hair, then resumes, "...our duty and responsibility that everyone makes it through this situation. I would have done this even without anyone else telling me. We might be just a few now, but together we can make the difference!"

"Hah-! Duty...!" Yoruichi vaguely shakes his head, as he's bothered by something. "The duty they've been shoved onto us until now? We were just sacrifices, that's our duty."

Futoshi's eye twitches and narrows into a fit of disdain. "I don't care about them, I said I would do it regardless or of or not! It's not wrong in wanting to protect everyone!"

"So, you play yourself in their hands and further their plans?"

"So, you crawl up in the first remote corner of the Nest to hide and wait for everyone to be killed by a Klaxxosaur?!" Futoshi shouts, "You're not protecting anyone besides yourself! You're unforgivable!"

"Ah-!" Ikuno's gasps and, along with all the other girls, widens the distance between her the burly boy. To her fullest surprise, his behavior once again falls very far from his normal self. Normally Futoshi is tame and tender, unwilling to hurt anyone even when ticked off, but now...! His hands are shaking, clasped in serrated fists while his eyes morph in hate, trudging his body forward, showing to be just on the verge of tearing apart the stamen in front of him in a conscious effort to restrain himself. He's unrecognizable, carrying the face of another person altogether- if that would be even called a person...! Hard face lines, showing teeth... Somehow, this whole situation is touching him in the personal, to a point that it's transforming him... into a deranged beast!

Ikuno asked herself when did her Stamen changed like that overnight, wouldn't she had a hunch of it since in the FranXX they were connected?

...Huh? Wait a moment.

Didn't this already happen a week earlier at Gran Crevasse...? Didn't isn't this the same as when he activated Chlorophytum's weapon in front of the Nines? Being connected to Futoshi's mind, she could witness it all happening in front of her. His mind felt a swirling of compressed rage dripping red with hate, suddenly imploding with a clear intention of doing harm, to tear apart everything. As soon as she caught a glimpse of those feelings, a fear far greater than the Klaxxosaurs engulfed her. She forcefully disconnected herself from her FranXX was escaping from a steaming hot bathtub, leaving him to yell and curse at the screen from where the Nines finally argued him down...

No, wait! Is it because of those headaches? Maybe it's the pain that's driving him ferocious! But... Ikuno notices she almost left out another detail. Just with his words, he's managing to get under his skin with pinpoint accuracy. How is he doing that? Damn if she knew that.

Ikuno pinches her nose in anger. Questions, questions... always questions. The more she wants answers, the more she gets even more questions. After all this time, she doesn't have a clue for anything at all. Ikuno feels dying of worry for his FranXX partner and her friends...

When will this end?

"I'd rather be killed by a Klaxxosaur than leaving her with them!" The response of Yoruichi comes out like a bark. "To hell with the Adults! They could die for all I care! This is the way I want to protect what I want to protect, better than do the bidding of those up in the tower and give her away!"

"FOOL! You're just taking her down with you! She will not be pruned, no one in the Nest ever was! You're just making this up to run away from everyone while hurting your pistil! What's your damn problem!"

This is too much. Ikuno closes to his partner from behind and places her hands onto his back.

"Futoshi, please calm down," she says with a speck of severity.

At his shoulder being touched, Futoshi turns his head around to find his pistil hanging from his shoulders, looking inside his eyes. His expression changes completely, going from the ire of just seconds ago to the Futoshi everyone knew. He makes to reach her hand, but his hand halts halfway and retracts again. His head then turns the other way with a guilty expression that only his gentle side can deliver.

"I'm sorry, Ikuno... but... this one is personal." His almost whispered words hang proudly in the air. "If I let this go, I would not be able to look myself in the mirror ever again. I have to protect... No. I want to protect our new world. And everyone inside it, even from themselves. Because there's someone inside it that I want to protect the most." He glances to Kokoro, who cups her hands onto her mouth after being moved by his words. Her mellow eyes look at Futoshi in complete adoration shining in tears of commotion.

"Futoshi...!"

Ikuno's expression mellows. Futoshi's speech sounds awfully familiar to her. In fact, she reminded her of herself some months ago, during the brief time atop her Plantation, Cerasus. The Mistilteinn, the glass cage where her boarding house lied in the center of a natural paradise, was her whole world. For her, what created such paradise was neither the verdant nature growing inside it nor the animals or the clean water and fresh air, nor the comforts and the idyllic atmosphere, but because Ichigo was beside her.

That place she wanted to be in with every inch of her being, the one where Ichigo and she lived happily while loving each other. Also, the one she wanted to protect the most. In order to do so, she needed to protect the world outside her cage, so she obeyed the Adults and killed the Klaxxosaurs. She did it for all her life inside it, living beside her and hoping one day that her dear friend looked her way and realized her dreams.

But... some dreams are bound to remain such.

One day, under the warm spring sun, she discovered that such world did not exist. Ichigo refused her love. Her little world crumbled, unsupported by reality. That world was just... a fantasy she built for herself where she was loved and cared for, a wishful lie written on sand, a paper castle ready to be blown away. She yelled, cried, and despaired, but that illusion still slowly faded away until it left only painful ruins. One day, after the bitterness subsided, she tentatively looked past of what she lost and found another world, bigger, scarier and equally full of lies.

The world she was protecting since now, the adult's world. The one made of endless deserts and blue screaming monsters. Since when it became such a nightmare...? She couldn't remember. Maybe it was already like that... and she just didn't notice.

Now Ikuno finally understood why Futoshi was so adamant in his belief and aggressive in upholding it. He has his own world to protect, too. The only difference is that his world it's the real one. The reality that connects all the other ones. If that world crumbles, all the wishes around it will collapse with it, and there will be no going back. At this moment in time, there are no glass cages to shelter them, no Adults to take care of their mistakes and no more filters to deny them to see how horrible the reality outside really is. Now it's all up to them to preserve that world. Once that last layer falls, there will be no more dreams and hopes, just pain and fear. And then... the bitter end.

Futoshi saw his own world crumble first, being refused by Kokoro in favor of Mitsuru. Ikuno felt his despair and his pain and took care of him, from the only place she could manage: the FranXX cockpit. The direct mind connection gives you a clear window inside your partner's mind, so she took care of him until he managed to walk on his own again. Ikuno was dreaded the day she would have to let him go, but eventually, she would have to step aside to let him have another chance. She still has her own insecurities, but she couldn't weight him down anymore. Now t's the time for her to step aside and let him try again to care for the world he wants to protect. Ikuno regains her strength and just says the only thing she is bound to say in this situation.

"I understand, Futoshi."

Futoshi turned at Ikuno, with the mellow eyes of his usual self, and smiles to her.

"Still... please, try to convince him until the end," she continued, releasing his shoulders and returning back where she was. Futoshi vaguely nods to his pistil, but just for the time to turn back towards his opponent and redeliver his glare.

"Meaning! Release Code 723 at once before you hurt yourself and your pistil! You're a menace to everyone around you, this cannot go on any further!" Futoshi thunders.

"To the hell with that!" Yoruichi waves him off. "Everyone's the problem! Leave us alone!"

"No! Everyone's the solution, you're the problem!" Futoshi yells and suddenly closes the gap between himself and Yoruichi. Somehow, that statement ticked him off again. "If we act alone, we're going to die! Together we are stronger, alone we are just dead meat! We must band together in a Un- AH-AHH!"

A bigger fit hits Futoshi's head. He clamps his temples with both hands while his knees bend slightly forward, "Uhhhg...! What's happening to me?"

Yoruichi snickers. "Heh, you've got headaches? In the end, you've been thought-corrected, too?"

Futoshi, still holding into his temple, he shoots the boy a conflicted look. At that statement, Ikuno's back straightens and a bright light crossed her eyes. "Thought-corrected?"

Yoruichi gives her a strange look. "Yeah...! What, you don't know? The protocol for dealing with -heh!- 'Dangerous thoughts that subvert the search for Perfection', as straight from the High Manu-Ahhh!" The long-haired stamen suddenly grabs his own head. "Oww... Well, see? Here we go again. I have those fits, too."

"High Ma- UGH!" Futoshi tries to repeat what he was saying, but his migraine intensifies.

"The... the headache...?"

"Yeah, that's a dead giveaway. They call it 'the Pain of Truth'... hah! Truth my ass! Your memories are deleted and others are implanted to fill the gaps left by the removed parts of your memory. You don't remember anything after the operation. Excellent tool for controlling others, isn't it? Do you realize... that everyone could be mind-washed without even noticing?"

Ikuno shivers. "What... what did you just say? Controlling others...?" Ikuno realizes this describes completely what was done to Kokoro and Mitsuru.

"Yeah, but it's not perfect. There's that... vague feeling of something amiss, something that you feel was always there because it left a hole...when you start noticing it, the migraines start happening. Then, you believe in things that no one remembers and eventually, you notice that part of your memory is missing. Little by little, something gets back into your mind and you want more because you feel being... whole again and... Bah! What I'm explaining stuff for. Talking is useless, because no one really understands... like always. Heh..." Yoruichi covers his forlorn smile with his hand, silently lost in thought.

Code 376 sees Futoshi becoming increasingly confused, then glances back to the Kokoro half-hiding past the main door's jamb returning eyes wide open like a deer caught in headlights. Slowly but surely, she comes out from her hiding spot and walks forward, placing herself to the side of the group.

"U-Um...! I... I understand your pain," she says while bringing her joined hands on her chest. "I'm feeling the same things, too. At first, I couldn't believe it, but now, after hearing your words... I fell the same pain you're feeling!" She fidgets, then her eyes tear a little.

"I don't know what to do... Everything feels scary and... I don't recognize anyone or anything anymore! Everyone says I've done doing things I don't remember and said thing I never said, it's all so confusing! If that's why reality feels fake to you, then I completely understand... I can't sleep, I'm so scared... Sometimes I've had the fear that one day, I'd wake up and see everyone disappear and never notice it...! It's like I've lost my own reality!"

Yoruichi exchanges her teary gaze with a streak of sadness in his eyes. "So, you too? That's sad..."

Suddenly, Code 376 face lights up. "Whoa, wait a sec. There are loads of people in the spheres that have those strange fits!" the golden-haired girl announces. In a split second, everyone freezes on the spot like statues. Futoshi, Kokoro, and Ikuno slowly pan their gazes onto the golden-haired girl, whose freckles fire up with a blush.

"Wh-What's the matter? It's true...! Everyone is complaining, and the hospital staff with medical apparatus were recently running around to cure those with head...ache...s..." Her voice grinds to a halt. "Oh..."

"Hah...! HAH! HAHAHAHA!" The boy thunders a deranged laugh holding onto his belly. "Not even a week in...! Looks like I was right after all- they already got everything under control! It's over already! Sure they didn't waste time, they already won, they got everyone thought-corrected and ready to go!"

He turns to Ikuno. "So how's that 'I am free' argument? Holds up still?"

Ikuno exchanges a brief and significant stare with the boy, only to then let it fall onto the floor like a rock.

"I can't... This..." She covers her mouth with her hands while her eyes wide open, like Death in person appeared before her smiling. A thought clicked inside her head and made her realize that the pieces of the puzzle that she was gathering until now are slowly connecting, but her instincts are refusing to accept the picture before her, the scariest image she could ever imagine.

A lot of parasites with constant migraines.

Hospital staff with medical equipment running around the Spheres.

Hachi behaving coldly, staying inside the tower and keeping his distance while not giving them the answers they need, and seemingly 'taking care' of anyone even suspected of anything suspicious.

A single stamen that knows too much, running away and isolating himself from everyone and hiding his young, ill pistil from pruning, saying that the migraines are deeply connected to the brainwash.

Does that mean that... he's right? Is Hachi planning to brainwash everyone... and use us as shields?

Didn't Goro and Ichigo go to the hospital earlier...?

Oh, no.

Is this the beginning of the end...?

No, please, don't be like this...

"I'm a fool," Ikuno curses herself between her teeth.

Then, her legs start to tremble visibly like she was about to be shoved off a tall cliff without retentions.

Even if unknowingly, she contributed to this.

It's totally her fault.

"What can I do..." asks in a whisper. Fears and insecurities long-buried in her chest resurface in a whirlpool, wiping out the last glance of rationality tethering her to reality. In a last-ditch effort, her mind instinctively veers towards the only thing able to keep her afloat.

"Help! I need help! Someone...!"

She shoves her hand inside the side pocket of her overalls and grabs her communicator with her trembling hand, lights its holoscreen up.

"That's useless." Yoruichi's voice stops Ikuno in her tracks. "We're alone, as it always had been. No one's going to help us."

Her fearful eyes look into Yoruichi's sad ones. Her arm holding the communicator hovers in the air, then falls dangling from her shoulder, taken by dread.

"NO!" Futoshi thunders. Everyone's shoulders jump from his outburst. Ikuno and Code 376's expressions are wiped off their faces as Kokoro scuttles back like she was shoved back by his shout. "Those are plain lies! With your words, you're disrespecting our duty! What would... he say about this whole situation! What would... the Sergeant say about you...! UNFORGIVABLE!"

Ikuno's brow bends in an angle. Who?

"The...?" Yoruichi's eyes suddenly light up with a pain surge, then mellow into sudden surprise. "...The Sergeant?"

Who are they talking about...?

"Yeah...! The... Ser... Sergeant...!" Futoshi echoes him, only to narrow his eyes like his interlocutor from across the room. "How could you forget what... he taught us, was it just a game for you? Even when everything falls apart and all hope is lost, we are the ones that charge forward! We don't have to despair when things go wrong, we can overcome anything... by working together! No task is impossible... when we act as a unit! We are the last line of defense, past us there's only the bitter end!" Futoshi proudly declares, chest forward. "Remember who we are and what we represent! Remember our oath!"

Ikuno's left eye narrowed. What's happening between those two right now?

"Oh..." Yoruichi's iron front instantly crumbles and, suddenly, his eyes reflect into regret. "That's right. What am I thinking? I... I'm a fool. I'm s... so...", but only for a brief second. "Ah-! No! No, no, no! That's not true! I'm not sorry, I'M NOT SORRY!" His body twitches forward as his shouts fill the room, his hands grapple his scalp with strength as his own body suddenly goes awry. In a fit of induced craziness, he grabs with both hands some keyboards close to him and violently throws them against the wall.

«CRASH!»

The input slabs of a light carbon alloy bang against the wall and release a shower of splinters and flying keycaps rolling all over the floor. "No one understands! The Sergeant didn't understand!"

Futoshi's goes up in fumes again. "Hey, hey! Respect the equipment, you rabid dog!"

Ikuno included, apparently. What are they talking about...?

"He was wrong!" Yoruichi yelled on top of his lungs with eyes full of hate. "He had his chance to understand that everyone is a threat, but he refused to see what was in front of his own eyes! He failed to teach us!"

"Don't you dare to say that!" Futoshi steps forward like a bull ready to charge into him.

"FUCK OFF! That's why he, until the end-Ah! Ough!" The long-haired stamen's hand lulls onto his forehead almost like his own voice spurred a fit of migraine.

"I said to SHUT-UP! Ahh... YOU!"

Code 376 barges in front of Futoshi with her broom, barring his way to reach Yoruichi with his fists on the ready. "Futoshi, you're jumpin' the gun! Remember why we're here!"

The boy relents his charge and smiles to her, gleefully passing his hand onto his reddish hair. "Ahaha! Don't worry, I will be over spanking his ass before the Appointed retur-Uh!" His head jerked sideways, like being smashed square in the head by something invisible, stopping his taunts immediately.

Code 376's surprised look bounces between Futoshi and her broom. "I... I didn't do anything!"

Futoshi lulls his head in surprise, then admits his situation, "I guess I've got the same stuff as him. But...! I feel I'm in the right!"

After hearing this exchange, Ikuno's mind further freezes as her hands start shaking like her knees. She knew no one that was called a 'Sergeant' and 'Appointed', the only ones she was taught from were called 'Professors'. No one ever told them anything of the stuff he's saying he was talking of. Aren't those phrases sounding like the doctrine she always read in the ancient armies of humanity inside military-themed books? Also, one thing is completely wrong from how she had been taught: as a FranXX pilot, she is the first line of defense. Not the last.

To Ikuno, it was almost as she was witnessing a second Futoshi, a radically different person, taking shape before her eyes. When he extracted that pistol-thing from that 'security station', she could see in his eyes that the gentleness in his eyes flashed out of his pupils and something more unhinged and scarier took its place. After finding Code 121 and 723's hideout, he said something along the line of 'I'm still myself', but she didn't believe him at all. She felt surprised, blindsided like she never really understood the person she was sharing her own mind with inside the FranXX cockpit. Something was hidden under the surface, or...? Is he just confused by the pain or...?

Or they implanted fake memories in his mind?

Is he the Futoshi she always knew, or a brainwashed tool for destruction? Something on the verge to explode, like now, cursing and yelling without any restraint?

"In the end... the Sergeant... he really was a soft, old fool! Hahaha!" Yoruichi taunts Futoshi across the room.

"Again...! How about I pound that concept in that empty head of yours, you rabid dog!?"

"Heh, you just try it! Let's see if you can shove out anything than your stupid beliefs, you fat panda!"

"Just wait in a sec and your head's going to fuckin' roll with all the things I'm gonna shove inside it!"

The two launch their taunts past the increasingly preoccupied Code 376, now more than before unable to quell their yells and feeling more and more uncomfortable in being between the two heavily quarreling boys. Meanwhile, between Kokoro's extremely scared and confused eyes, scanning the scene from the wall she's pressing her back into, and the little girl, lying in the white covers on the opposite wall while covering her ears with her hands and profusely crying her heart out, Ikuno's blank mind barely registers anything more than her racing heartbeat. The panic is making her unable to make a decision. This should be the time to make a decisive move to save the situation, but her fingers hover upon the communicator's holoscreen, paralyzed.

A question is restraining her.

A very basic question, but nonetheless fundamental.

And incredibly hard and scary to answer.

Who is she going to call?

Who's she going to place her trust in?

Endless moments pass, and her mind still remains blank.

...

* * *

 **Worlds colliding - END**

* * *

...

 **Hot, so damn HOT!**

My brain's on fire, man! You try and write with this humidity levels, I dare you!

No, wait, scratch that, I'd rather you survive through August with functioning eyes, so you can still read through this very heavy chapter of mine where multiple realities and points of view melt and swirl together, while making Ikuno rapidly lose her sanity points! I hope your sanity is still intact too, among all that heavy back-and-forth between the group and the -let's say- very informed Yoruichi. His personality comes off as a total jerk (because that's totally what I've made him look as) but don't be put off, he has a big heart of gold underneath that hard skin, you just have to dig quite a bit. Also, you'd think that Futoshi is getting the long stick in this story, with Kokoro weaving back her relationship with him and being all lovey-dovey, but... ehhh... you will see. Things are more complicated than they appear, especially after this chapter's reveals.

So, despite Hell descending on Earth and the endless fight between me and the electrical bills to keep the Angel of Air Conditioning always active and pumping the heat out of my flat, I managed to remain a little productive and to deliver a good portion of this chapter in a month and a half later. Sadly I wanted to write three scenes, but I guess that, since I'm already late, it's time to push a single-scene chapter and leave everyone -once again- on a steep cliffhanger. Will Ikuno manage to save this situation, on the verge of free-falling into violence? Who will she call? Will her hope and prayers for a better world be heeded? Will the 'outside world' refuse her?

Find out in the next chapter, out in September.

Also, since August 3, Learn to Fly is a year old! Hurray! I'll be pushing a special chapter at the end of this month, so be tuned for a surprise!


	14. Chapter 14 :: The lady of the tower

...

* * *

 **Chapter 14**

 **The Blind King and the Lady of the Tower**

* * *

...

Atop the highest floor of Bird's Nest tower, intermittent hues of artificial light wash onto Hachi's eyes. Two pairs of shining irises linger onto the feed of Sphere 3's main observation camera, completely taken over by pensiveness. With the back let go onto the chair, he stares at the monitor where not so long ago he talked with that young girl, after being hanged over by her in anger. Retaining the composure befit for the only commander left in charge in the human stronghold, he composedly rests his back and caresses his chin while completely taken away by his own thoughts, helplessly mulling over the conversation they had before Code 196 irately hanged him up. After minutes of delving into his appalling considerations, he shakes his head. His lips, slightly parted, finally move and his grave voice produces a single word.

"Why."

Code 196, Ikuno by her teammates, just called him over with her communicator. She started investigating on her own, and exposed herself to the other parasites: Hachi was slightly unamused, he didn't appreciate her autonomy. Code 196 isn't experienced at operations as he, the commander, is. Without proper guidance, she could do more harm than good. Not that he was appalled that she tried to act on her own, but action with lack of foresight can have undesired consequences, the ones that he wouldn't allow her to suffer, so Hachi told her to interrupt the search. Yet, after hearing what he wanted to be done, with irate words, she protested that she did… exactly what she volunteered to do.

"She had been quite unreasonable."

That order wasn't something thought right on the spot. Anything can't be done without serious consideration or expertise: the experiences made during his office certified it. Didn't she always trust his expertise at leading them while on FranXX service? Why would now be different? Of course, sometimes her whole group would appeal his orders, but all in all, he thought she understood that Hachi was there to protect everyone, like old times. Sometimes, that would mean taking very heavy decisions, the kind that would paralyze anyone - after all, he was the commander, through and through. He thought someone rational as Code 196 could understand the situation, but instead, she lashed out on him and called him an Adult - somehow effectively, as it's the last thing he wants to be equated to.

"Why reacting like that?"

After all, what he discovered about 121 and 723 wasn't something fit to be described as wholesome: Code 121 deceived everyone and wore the guise of a stable person, until his plan foiled when an entire sack of bloodied sheets was found in the room he shared with his very young pistil, shown to be unhealthy and weak. The situation cleared further when he then sabotaged the security systems and took her hostage into a forbidden part of the base. At that point, all those facts couldn't be considered a series of coincidences.

At that time, Hachi thought the decision made itself. Without a second of remorse, he pulled the plug on Code 121. As abrupt as it might seem, what was revealed to him was the biggest red flag conceivable. Wishing he had the time to tell Code 196 of this, his hands dance on the screen to call her back. After half a minute of idly ringing, the call falls unanswered. She clearly ignored it. Hachi pinches his nose.

"I'm bad at this…"

Indeed, he's not trained to deal directly with direct relationships. He sure wishes he had the 'right' Nana there helping him… with that handling attitude of hers, she could have explained the situation a hundred times better.

The situation is, there's no security personnel in Bird's Nest anymore. The ones that were assigned to escort him during his duties were a really short relationship - he found them with their heads cooked inside out by their helmets, lying dead beside their own entire operative division. In such a situation, the only security he could provide is the automatic gun turrets installed on the ceiling of the corridors and the Nest's hotspots, before just some costly apparatus, but now reevaluated as a strict life necessity. As a commander, he had to wholly evaluate the situation and act accordingly: he knew he had to cut the losses and wait for the stamen to reappear, then use the turrets' nonlethal rounds to stop him cold in his madness.

Waiting for the stamen to be ambushed by the security system is clearly the optimal way in this scenario. A high risk for the pistil's life, but such was a necessary one.

At this time, he can't have Ikuno roaming around aimlessly. Calling off the search was meant to make sure that everyone else, her in the first place, was out of harm's way before anything dangerous would happen. Scenarios like these are quick to worsen, and Hachi doesn't want to have more causalities than estimated. Chasing such danger is not for someone unprepared for security work like her, and can end up very badly.

And, in their situation, that can't absolutely stand. Everything in the Spheres is completely run by Code 196 and her team. A single error can spell a snowball effect towards disaster. It's completely, absolutely logical to not expose Squad 13 to dangerous situations no matter what, and that's only way he has to make sure they won't get into trouble bigger than themselves.

Yet, somehow, she just bashed him outright. Indeed, she was particularly angered.

"Wasn't she too emotional about it…? Oh, right, I almost forgot!" There's a precise explanation of why she's so emotional. He knew perfectly why, but for some reason it didn't come to him until now.

All parasites, well before their assignment to a plantation, are given an emotional suppression therapy.

Plantation 13, Cerasus, was one of the oldest plantations roaming the earth still on duty, a melting pot of hundred-years old infrastructure mixed to cutting-edge technology. To not tax the obsolete infrastructure leftover from when the first plantations were launched, it was assigned for research and testing purposes far from the main hotspots of Klaxxo activity. Eventually, Code 196's squad was assigned Cerasus, and Hachi with them.

That squad was part of a test case - a very, very special test case. Their experiment consisted of ditching the emotional suppression therapy, live with more personal independence, a less oppressive environment and obligations, extensive side activities and hobbies, personally matched FranXX with a fighting system design based on individuality instead of collectivism and a battle plan oriented on self-reliance and initiative. This doctrine was a complete turn-around compared to the tested ones yet employed, but the Council approved Dr. FranXX's research plan without batting an eye, maybe to send him farthest as possible from the orbital fortress Cosmos, seat of the Central HQ Council, to carry out their treacherous machinations without interruptions. Dr. FranXX had quite the political power, he literally was the forefront of FranXX research after all. He just had to ask for the waters to part.

When Hachi was assigned to oversee such a project, he took the reins of Plantation 13 with a high dose of skepticism. For him, it seemed that such 'promotion' was a disguised punishment after all the effort he did to become a highly regarded Commander and then allowed into the Inner Circle. In his head, that experiment was already doomed to fail: instead of making a step forward, Dr. FranXX was making several steps back from everything that was established by experience. With all these concessions, there was no way that Squad 13 would be functional, let alone effective. Personal designs? Custom weapons? Combat roles…? Foolishness, he thought. At least, he was relieved to hear that his concern was heard, and at least one of the Nines was called to oversee at least the first battles: the Red Devil, Code 002.

At first, Squad 13 was very difficult to manage, prone to emotional outbursts and always on the edge, especially because of Code 002 and her very quirky behavior. Hachi wanted to intervene sooner than later but, surprisingly, the Doctor ordered him to leave them alone to self-sort their issues and instead use Nana, his assistant with long, wavy red hair that always followed him, to mediate and keep order between the youths. They knew her from birth, he said. Hachi couldn't say no and played his game, but still wondered what was spinning inside his head.

Some months later though, against all odds, the situation that unfolded belonged firmly in the realm of the unfathomable - Hachi couldn't believe his eyes. The test results were completely astounding. Even counting out the extremely valuable help of Code 002, data showed that the combat performance grew linearly with experience, also the expected plateau of the personal performance of each FranXX pairing never happened. On the contrary, combat effectiveness and teamwork skyrocketed past the levels of a 'normal' squad and tallied those of the Special Forces, the elite branch of the FranXX defense force. This young and early. Also, the group was tight-knit like a steel weave and, minor squabbles aside worked as a proper single unit of efforts with maturity and courage… even past the types of relationships deemed acceptable by Papa. The test results were clear: under the same controlled variables, the synergy of those special conditions made the impossible reality.

It was then, that he noticed Dr. FranXX wasn't even surprised by the result.

It seemed as he knew perfectly what would happen from the very start…

But anyways. Point is, since her emotions aren't suppressed, she can totally be lead astray by her own feelings. No matter her dedication or mindset, anyone can be fooled by those. He didn't think to actually hunt down or get rid of anyone, just approach the situation the safest way possible. Everything can be fixed, but in exchange for time and sacrifice, and they didn't have both to spare.

"She was completely unreason-"

«BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!»

"Huh-!" Hachi jumps on his seat, startled by the sudden sound coming from the terminal in front of him. His hand scramble forward to turn on the terminal screen dimmed out by inactivity and, as soon the LCD lights up, a video call showing a face of a post-20 years old male with black hair and white streaks comes live with an «Incoming call: Code 013» caption hovering above the feed.

"Oh? Code 013?" The picture bobs left and right, as the young man was calling Hachi while running. His hand reaches for the caption but hesitates just inches from the monitor. "What's happening? Why is he not down in the hospital?" After a brief hesitation, his finger pass left to right to the caption. A green flash follows.

"Pick up, already…!" Hisui yells vehemently into the communicator.

"!…" Hachi jumps on his seat once again. "…Code 013, don't shout!"

Hisui's face lightens with slight embarrassment. "Oh! Ehm, sorry Hachi… but finally!" His stride slows into a walk, now addressing the picture while cutting the crowd still ascending the dormitory.

"Where are you? What's happening?"

"I'm calling you from Sphere 3, we have a medical emergency on our hands."

"A medical emergency…?"

Hisui's eyebrows bend a little. "Yeah…? Didn't you tell Code 196 to call me and coordinate for the search of the little girl? I have some news about it. Bad ones." His screen jitters as he's descending the service stairs of the dormitory in a hurried pace, dodging the young crowd climbing the opposite direction. "I've just examined the room of the couple. As soon as I placed my eyes onto the blood on the sheets of Code 723's bed, I understood what I had on my hands… signs of last-stage Elixir rejection syndrome."

Hachi's face whitens. "Elixir… rejection syndrome?"

"Yeah, I'm sure as heck that's it. I'll give you a quick and simple rundown: the Elixir is a shock hormonal therapy for parasites that accelerates body and organ maturity to be recognizable by the FranXX system. It's sometimes given to willing young children that have problems with being compatible with FranXX service, but the current iteration is so potent and body-warping that only a fraction of the patients survive the therapy.

"The concoction still in development and it's very unstable. Even if the subject lives on, it's just the matter of a flick of a coin if grave after-effects present themselves, lingering for many years after the injection. This syndrome is the worst-case scenario of all: it's symptoms are low platelet count due to massive autoimmune response, aplastic anemia, reduced awareness, fever and pain accompanied by profuse chronic hemorrhaging from the mucosae. When it hits, it hits like a truck."

"I… I… Illness… caused by the Elixir? Hemorrhaging?" Hachi's eyes bat in quick succession. "I honestly thought… that she had been…"

"Scratch whatever you thought. You can vouch for me on that. I saw that one a lot…" Hisui's eyes suddenly darken for a second. "Anyway, where's Ikuno? Has she found them yet?"

"I… I don't know…"

Hisui's face twitches as it was bashed with a pan. The feed of the video call stops being blurry as the parasite doctor dead-stops in the middle of the stairs.

"Hachi! For the love of the Holy, I didn't actually ask you if you knew on hand, but if you can track her position!"

Hachi barely reacts to his yelling.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Pull yourself together! This is not the time to be joking! We need to gather a bigger search party for those two! If we don't act quickly, it will be too late for her! Code 723's situation is going to worsen by the hour, so we don't have time to waste! Where did Ikuno go?"

His blank slate of a face returns an empty stare. Hachi has lost completely the thread of the situation. Instead, it's a confident woman's voice that cuts apart the sudden loud silence of the command station, "She's in Mech Engineering Section number 32. She's not alone."

"Ahh, goodness! She made a search party already! Great, Ikuno!"

The commander, suddenly waking up from his daze, glances past the monitor in front of him, spotting the perfect outline of a red bob haircut outlining against the Nest's tactical map, still shining on the big screen he opened before. The other Nana responded in his stead, her attention dancing between the map and the video feed of the sabotaged security cameras playing on her tablet. While giving him the shoulders and full attention to the screen, her digital pencil slowly tracks a blue path on the floor plan.

"She's past the Sphere 3's junction bridge… the third external door from the right. Then… straight into the Molding Station's back quarters. I think they've found the couple," she announces.

The doctor's face lightens. "Incredible…! Thanks, ma'am. Going there right now. Hachi, issue a medical code red request at that engineering section's coordinates so I can track it. Also, unlock everything that might impede our rescue, my guys are trained on what to do at these types of requests... Wait, what's that orange-level security alert for?"

"The stamen may be… reluctant to cooperate..."

"I don't care! Who would be this massive idiot capable to endanger his pistil, anyway? A single dumb teenager's not going to stop me from doing what I have to do. Turn the alert-thing off please, don't make things worse than they already are." Code 013's brazen eyes turn concerned and wander to the side. "This case is my responsibility."

"Mh," Hachi mumbles. Hisui shoots at him a concerned glance.

"…What's up with you? That's not the attitude of the dashing commander I always knew! Bad things happen, it's not that it always has to go a hundred percent as we thought, that would be just too easy, wouldn't it? But if we are ready, we can save the situation like you always said, don't we?"

"…Yeah."

"Oh, that was weak! It'll be fine! Fix that face of yours already, Doctor's orders! Be quick about it!"

"…Yeah."

"Later!"

The call screen closes off, but Hachi's dumbfounded face stares incessantly at the monitor, with his eyes not even batting at the flicker of the terminal screen.

"What have I done…?"

He just fucked up big time. Not in a hundred years he would have imagined committing such a blunder, yet here he is, half-paralyzed while slowly and shamefully admitting his complete failure at the face of his perfect logical reasoning.

He just got proved wrong.

Definitely and without appeal.

Not by a disputable AI, but Code 013. He is closer to authority than anyone he met from his Specialty, a professional-in-training and one of the pupils of the Garden's Principal, who's an Adult who perfected his craft across over a hundred and fifty years. The path that Code 013 took was one of the most difficult to travel, so to Hachi it meant trust. He wouldn't be wrong about the little pistil, nonetheless about a condition he worked with daily. So, that leaves one solid fact on the board.

The blood on the sheets was due to Code 723's rejection syndrome.

And that follows that Code 121 didn't abuse or hurt her.

Code 196, Ikuno as she likes to be called, was right all along.

Code 121 is not a violent person. He most likely was troubled and reacting out of fear, isolating and avoiding everyone.

This is the gist of it. And he outright ignored her.

Didn't she prove to him without the reason of a doubt that she's dependable like everyone in her squad? Then, why didn't he listen to her opinion as a genuine and trusted report and instead reprimanded and treated her like a child, said to her she messed up when she did the right actions? Did Hachi have some… preconceptions about the whole situation, about the long-haired stamen? After all, he did see him having multiple times those…

"…Emotions!"

Something nebulous stirs inside Hachi's chest, and an answer resurfaces: if Code 121 could feel those intense emotions like he was shown to have, then why wouldn't he be a threat…?

Hachi's eyes suddenly open wide. "Oh…! That's why!"

Everything he held unsurely was thrown from the window in the sole instant he watched the recordings of breakfast time when the facial recognition exposed his heightened emotional state. That was the moment he judged he was an absolute threat. As for the why… Hachi knows it perfectly.

Emotions are ticking bombs ready to explode.

"Dangerous. Yeah."

There's something about emotions he learned in first person while acting as a Commander. He knows perfectly that, from time to time, a very dark play tended to unfold inside the boarding houses' walls.

The life of a FranXX pilot is very respected and sought for. In the age of the Plantations, Earth is none but a charred shadow of what was before the Fall: an endless scorched desert where almost all plant life has been voided to never return. The sole glances of green allowed from such a harsh planet are only those that humanity preserved inside the Plantations, named after their acre-wide biosphere peerlessly maintained on top of them, where thousands upon thousands of life forms of old times could survive and thrive. Inside, there's the biodiversity necessary to restore the old world at a time before the Klaxxosaurs destroyed it.

In the middle of such man-made paradise, lies embedded in the middle of the forest a red-roofed, wide two-story building made of natural wood called the Mistilteinn. An old-school boarding house, an artifact from the old world, where the Parasites live their life of service among copious amount of praise and comforts. Such children, surrounded by the world they were called to bring forth once again, carried the highest wish of all humanity, it's last will after witnessing the death of the world, the ray of hope shining through the darkness known as the Klaxxosaurs - that blue cancer that plagues the core of the Earth, to win the world back and to eventually restore its former glory.

But, despite living in such a dreamlike life compared to the hell of outside, their task is not simple at all.

'Klaxxosaurs' derives from 'klaxxo', 'scream'. Their monstrous acute growls that can be heard from below the wide crevices of the earth's landscape belong to the realm of the nightmares. And in fact, their forms are of deadly bio machines with monstrous designs and impossible biologies that trump the imagination in terrifying ways. Every FranXX driver must battle against such horror, repel it back into the earth or - better - vanquish it before it resurfaces again. And, if the situation requires it, they must be ready to give their life at a moment's notice to protect the Plantations and the millions of Adults still living inside it since the global evacuation.

Each one of those adolescents is constantly waiting for their end appearing just around the corner, at any time. Each of their moments may very well be their last. And they know perfectly all of it, in good and bad.

Left at their own devices, the parasites have to sort out their own life by themselves. With time, if their minds are left unchecked, the Cage transforms into a literal pressure cooker - Klaxxosaurs are, after all, are humanity's worst nightmare. Called to tackle such evil for humankind, crushed by the expectations placed upon them and without a proper outlet for their restlessness and problems, small and insignificant thoughts snowball little by little into something bigger until it cannot be contained.

 _Into something violent._

In the first days of the plantations, when led to the brink, those adolescents' emotional outbursts were as common as breathing, and in some cases… incidents happened. So, if emotions were a hindrance, Papa thought it was proper to relieve them of such heavy burden and something from above was done about it.

A therapy to block emotions, administered to the pilots by a very young age, lasting through all their service.

Problem was, it wasn't a perfect treatment by any means. Sometimes, either by chance or error, the effects faded long before the due time. Emotions returned, without forewarning and all at once, so much that uncouth minds as those of the young parasites' would instantly crack and give in to a sudden, sharp urge.

 _The urge to vent the pain._

 _Usually, against someone close._

 _White bed covers stained of deep red._

The pattern of the macabre play shows to be always the same. He watched it unfold so many times that he knows the script at heart. The story of the fall of the valiant knight, becoming…

"…The monster."

Such he knew as acting commander, before being assigned to Plantation 13. And it's not everything. Emotions are a perverse form of illness, the deadly plague of the mind. Isn't it written all over the countless history books he literally ate in his youth?

The word 'war'.

Since the oldest of times, emotions they were a constant thorn in the back to humanity, a massive liability. Countless wars with millions of deaths were fought over the tiniest slight, masses of people led astray by manipulation and outrage driven to the absolute brink to kill their own race for honor, personal gain or material interests. When humanity was at its primal and needed a way to survive effectively, evolution provided emotions as a useful tool for survival, but with the advent of civilization, its usefulness came to be lacking and, instead, proved to be the biggest obstacle to humanity's advancement to a higher state of being. In an ideal world, based on logic and reason, emotion is just a vestigial chemical reaction.

Emotion leads astray the peerless and bends the judgment of the wisest.

Yeah. Everyone possessed emotions, but he couldn't relate to them. Everyone smiled, cried, sulked, got angry, then back at smiling again, but his heart wouldn't budge an inch. When he was young, he always wondered what happened inside the mind of others when those fluttering moments emerged, but such curiosity was eventually cast aside when he found himself unable to connect with others on that level. Eventually, he started to ignore those abnormalities, for he knew better what was the better path to take...

Hachi vehemently demonizes that wrong state of mind called emotion.

How could it be wrong? After all, emotions are everything he despises: irrational, illogical, unfathomable, and most of all, unpredictable. History repeats itself constantly, and it's somewhat bound to be until those useless habits disappear. Emotions are something that should belong to the past forever. To stop all that unnecessary suffering, for the betterment of humanity and a better future.

To the path towards peace, something must be left behind.

"The world is a better place without emotio-"

His lips stop midway as if suddenly paralyzed.

"Wait. What am I saying…?" Hachi soughs, cupping his face with his own hands. Somehow, his unconscious tells him there's something wrong in that statement. A broken cog in the logic mechanism, grinding his thoughts to a halt, a pebble small enough to go unseen but big enough for him to detect.

Then, suddenly, a realization.

"Squad 13. They have emotions!"

They totally have! Yet, aren't the sole parasites he trusts?

They aren't that irrational, maybe sometimes unpredictable and impulsive, but they aren't the walking bombs his mind would label at all! They have emotions, yet they are the sole group of parasites under his orders whose he fully respects and would give a whole base to manage! Didn't he witness first-hand Squad 13 and the literal miracle that unfolded? Extremely mature kids shouldering by themselves the destiny of hundreds of their peers with such involvement and determination that would pale any duty-minded person he knew? And with such enthusiasm, too!

Every day, after waking up, they meet and make breakfast all together down in the officers' quarters, around a dining table in a well-stocked break room to talk the present day's news and things to do, maybe still in the habit of when they were stranded inside the Mistilteinn before the events at Gran Crevasse. Their life back then was extremely similar to the one they're living right now: gathering and preparing food, managing the water, cleaning, collecting the trash…

During the Cerasus' evacuation after the first battle of Gran Crevasse, Dr. FranXX told Hachi to leave them inside the biosphere, still miraculously functional, and to not interfere in any way in their independence and to give them just the strictly necessary to survive. And so he did, leaving them in complete autonomy from any rule or restriction, while peerlessly monitoring through hidden cameras placed all around the boarding house. The miracle happened again. The serious talks, the laughs, sometimes a quarrel, even heavy, but always end up balancing one another and quell each other insecurities… a very far cry from the empty silence of a desensitized squad.

Instead of being alone and drown in their weaknesses, they made those feelings their unending strength.

At the light of those kids, why then would he still think that humanity and feelings are incompatible? Aren't they the prime example of why he's completely wrong? How come such thoughts combined didn't provoke him earlier? Isn't it like the most massive cognitive dissonance ever?

"Is this what you wanted to make me see, Doctor?"

Indeed. The doctor said something like that before being assigned at Plantation 13…

"Believe me Hachi, this experiment will be the most interesting you'll ever see in a lifetime, I guarantee it!"

…but the flawless commander didn't see past own understanding, blinded by his own experience. Maybe he gave those children… something? Maybe is it that during their growth they gained… a purpose? Something driving their thoughts and actions, a spark of determination, a wish so strong that made them fly over every obstacle towards a better future, maybe one they deep down wanted all along, with all the strength of their being?

A future that everyone else was denied?

Yeah. The dawning of a final day already written, by Papa. To die by the hand of the Klaxxosaurs, for a cause they didn't believe in and a war they didn't begin or had any connection with whatsoever, lest being born and raised into the wrong era, where humanity is just a shadow of itself surrounded by hopeless technology that controls and drives everyone apart from each other. An insignificant span of just a hundred years, a brief moment within the scope of human history, where endless generations shared a single and inescapable destiny, the one premade for them by APE.

The same destiny Hachi herded those boys and girls towards.

Didn't he have a purpose himself? To stop all wars and create such a future, where the Klaxxosaurs didn't roam the earth and such sacrifices wouldn't be made again? Didn't he swear to himself to dedicate himself to the brink towards such purpose? Yes he did. Did he want to reach that end by any means? Completely. So much that no one could stop him. No one. Not even Weakness itself. He wanted to be the perfect human, for the sake of such promise. An oath, a pledge so old that his memory fails to place how much time has passed in the meantime. It seems so long ago… for him, every second without Earth retaken counted against him.

So, by proxy, he killed the Klaxxosaurs.

Onto the bloodstained path of such dedication, he eventually stopped listening to others, and first of all, to himself.

"Since when it became like that…?"

Since when he became a literal walking contradiction? Since when his life lost any meaning or consistency? He can't remember, but something along the way clearly went wrong. It's just literally smashing his head onto a brick wall that he noticed his true lacking.

"Isn't everyone here capable of emotional response… apart…"

After all, he can't understand something he never felt.

"…apart from me."

That's exactly what was wrong. His body never understood emotions. People smiled at him, but he wouldn't react. His conscious would understand that's a good thing, a positive reaction, but something inside didn't work, wouldn't click as he would see others react to it. Instead, a thick mist took place, a glue goop smeared his chest and left a vague sense of false emptiness. Eventually, he understood that he couldn't connect to others the same as others do, that he couldn't read the atmosphere or guess what's inside others' minds. He was horrible at connecting with others, it was so frustrating and alienating. He was always treated by others like a rogue, a black box, a perfect enigma, and he hated that. That's his fundamental weakness, the one that's always reminding him that he's imperfect, inadequate.

Defective.

He pushed back. He didn't want to be weak, he needed to be strong. So he pushed weakness away, telling himself he wasn't imperfect, but that others were instead. He was right, and others were wrong. He was pure, others were corrupt. Pushing the blame was his sole choice. He didn't choose to be weak, he was born with it. It wasn't right, nor fair. He just did all he could to be worthy of the grand promise he kept high on his chest. But in the end, would he really create such a world, one where logic and reason triumph over everything?

No, he wouldn't.

Emotions are the reason that those kids to be so utterly radiant, so strong and proud, fostering the wishes they're working for. Taking all of that away would mean making this world no longer capable of having such perfection. An imperfect world created for the sake of a perfect one.

Foolishness.

Taking humanity away from the things that made it helplessly flawed, helplessly human, doesn't mean also taking away the struggle to overcome them? Would everyone be in constant apathy and stillness, just living themselves out without direction? Then what would be this perfection always talking about…?

At this point, such reality can't exist. That would count as creating a whole utopia. As much as humane and honorable might be, that would remain a wish-fulfillment of some philosopher of old, naive and shortsighted as him. At least, imagining such person would make Hachi less alone in his error. Maybe the purpose Hachi boxed himself into is too big for him to accomplish on his own. In the meantime, he fought monsters that he himself created to supply his own reality.

What even means to be a monster, really? Wouldn't it be something irrational that you can't communicate with?

"Am I the real monster…? No! Can't be!"

He can't be the monster he hated all along! That's not true, it's not possible…!

In a fit of sudden desperation to prove to himself that no monster lingered inside him, Hachi's hands hug onto his chest, where a faint beating could be felt on the tips of his fingers. While closing his eyes, Hachi feels compelled to do something he never did in his whole life: with every inch of himself, focus on what's happening inside him. What was the pressure lodged inside his ribcage that made him suddenly escape from Gran Crevasse, that day? What's the same thing that now had make him deny reality and shoot the messenger, in a mad urge to take shortest and radical path to resolve the situation? What's… this… wall around his heart…

"Is this… fear?"

"Are you afraid, my dear Hachi?"

At his name being softly called from literally just in front of him, his eyes blink open in surprise. Instead of finding the desk's surface he still had the afterimage in his mind, his gaze brushes over the slit of a black long gown suddenly appearing before him, revealing a pair of slender feminine legs clad in gray stockings just dangling just in front of his nose. Eyes batting, his gaze raises and passes over the body clad in a tight, gray staff assistant's uniform following closely her body curves with golden epaulets and a short red necktie hanging over her womanly mature chest. Past the long exposed neck, Nana's delicate smile rests sideways on her shoulder crowned by her perfect futuristic bob cut.

Without Hachi noticing, she sneaked onto the table in a siren pose and looked silently at him.

"So cold, calculating. So utterly impenetrable."

Her eyes, so often narrow as slits, part open and disclosing a gaze of infinite tenderness.

"Yet, so fragile…"

Her velvet hand brushes gently over Hachi's cheek to feel the harsh texture of his stubble, but he parts from it out of reflex. Shuddering a bit from the invading gesture, the forbidden and unlawful contact he hated, his gaze zips sideways to avoid it. Nana puffs, slightly amused.

"You haven't changed one inch after all… How many years was it…?"

"A lot," Hachi blurts.

"Yes… you threw me off perfectly when we met in the Nest before the operations. at first, I thought you didn't remember me. You know, sometimes people around here forget even their whole lives at some point… if it would have been your turn, that would have been a real shame."

"…" Hachi blinks a little confused.

"So, do you remember?" Nana shifts closer.

"I perfectly do."

"And that slight frown of yours shows that you remember more than you tell… Hehehe!" Nana inches closer and closer to Hachi, whose frown deepens further. "Come on, don't give me this look… who would greet his pistil this coldly?"

"…"

"Shame on you. I bet you'd wish my brain was cooked like an egg from the brain interface, don't you?"

"You-!" Hachi exclaims in aghast.

"Ah, you meanie…" She pushes her index finger onto his straight as an arrow nose.

"Wh-! I would never…!"

"Ehe, thanks dear," Nana softly smiles. "You know who disconnected me just in time?"

"Who…?"

"Dr. FranXX."

"He did-!" Hachi doesn't apply any effort to hide his surprise.

"Some technician contacted me, he told my interface had some problems - needed a software update just before the battle and to deliver it to maintenance. I didn't care, less work for me, but they didn't give it back. Guess what? I tracked back that technician and discovered that was actually him using a vacant account."

"So, he did it… I see…"

"I don't know what you've been up to, but you're quite worked up… Anything I can do?"

"Eh…"

"What happened?"

"Uh-I think… No." Hachi sternly recomposes himself. "I've committed a gigantic error. I thought the stamen was responsible for everything that happened, but instead…"

"I heard that."

"I've… I've thought solely of catching him, concentrating all my attention on my - I guess - completely unfounded beliefs and disregarded his pistil, who I should have focused on instead. I would maybe have thrown away the little pistil's life for naught in catching him. What was I thinking…?" Hachi hides his face again under the palms of his hands.

"I see."

"It's all my fault. I should have listened to Code 196 and-"

Nana's eyes sadden. "You're sharing the fault with me."

Hachi looks at her dumbfounded. "No…!"

"You could have known better about the situation, but I also could have given you better information. I'm an Intel Officer, and I'm also responsible for what happened."

"But- you've been just following my orders!"

"Yeah, but your orders were based on what you saw through me. I'm partly responsible for what you've done. That's how information works, dear..." Hachi silently accepts Nana's interpretation of what happened. Despite that, her perpetual smile cracks and her eyes go out of focus as if thinking deeply of something buried deep inside her. After a brief recollection, she continues.

"You know, this is my tower. I know it more than myself."

Hachi's interest is piqued from this odd declaration.

"Many years ago, when I was just a naive young girl, I couldn't believe it myself when High Command assigned me to the top of Bird's Nest, the forefront of Klaxxosaur activity. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever wished, and it was offered to me very casually, almost nonchalantly. It felt so outrageously exciting! So, I accepted it immediately. This is the tallest structure in the entire world, so tall it touches the sky like the buildings from back when people still lived outside the Plantations, but even taller. I thought, it was so huge that it inspired power beyond limit; 'like this, I can see everything and be everywhere, nothing will escape me ever again!'. When I first climbed the top of this place of power, I felt exhilarated. But, soon after, I understood something else."

Nana gestures towards the rimless, tall windows that Hachi opened earlier by releasing the tower's canopy. Past it, bronze hills sprawling towards endless deserts, a streak of golden marks a river dancing towards the faint blue outline of the sea.

"Up here, everything is beautifully majestic. Nothing can escape your sight. The earth and the whole Bird Nest prostrate at your feet, a view fit for a king watching upon his domain… but, soon enough, you realize it's just an illusion. If you try looking down where you started your climb, all the details disappear in a blur. Human-like forms that before you easily recognized become ants, faces lose their identity and their bustling about transform into an uncontrollable, irrational river, confusing randomness robbed of its meaning. Up here you become all-seeing, but you become blind inside."

Nana's hypnotic lips stop moving and Hachi freezes, somehow deeply entranced.

"Back then, you couldn't count days without an unsettling scream from the depths of the earth, a special forces' hunting party departing for a scout mission deep in enemy territory, then hundreds of mechs launching sorties only to return half of their number. Those days were hectic, lived constantly on the edge of my seat, always waiting for the next hint of an earthquake to triangulate the next attack from the Klaxxosaurs in frantic anticipation. In this very war room, promising top commanders oversaw countless battles spending part of their sanity to contain the horror seeping through Gran Crevasse, but… humans and this tower don't work well together. Many of them came and went. All because they eventually lost something that made them unable to function. Their humanity."

"Climb to the top, and soon enough, you realize this tower is made for aimless and unbridled power. You have the control of everything just under your fingertips, and you feel so weightless while using it that you soon become inebriated from it. The tower enters your head, and you start talking its language… the language of violence. It's at that point that you become the king upon the tower who sees and controls all. Your judgment is absolute and your power irresistible, seductive, almost inescapable… but there's a catch.

"Control up here is just a useless feature, a well-disguised illusion. Everything that you thought you knew warps into something unrecognizable. There's a disconnect, a rift between you and the real world where reality buries itself and everything becomes a threat begging to be stamped. You become a blind king, mad in his omnipotence but fundamentally helpless, trapped inside the cage of his ego, living a parallel world where everything is your plaything. All the while refusing to admit you need the vision of others to direct your power. Countless commanders failed to notice and burned themselves, falling into depravity to never resurface again. This is the curse of Bird Nest's tower."

Nana inches forward and grabs Hachi's temples. He didn't have the mental strength to fight back, even to flinch away as she bends forward and places her forehead onto his own. His eyes cross with hers while her words of wisdom pour out from her soft lips. Hachi never thought he would be so attracted to her mind, yet there he is, with his consciousness washed away.

"But you didn't. You're different from them. You're not using the tower for violence, but for others' sake, with pure intentions. Although it had been fun to just try and tame this tower with you for a bit, I guess it's not quite working right now... We have still a lot to learn from it. Right?"

"You're touching me…" Hachi slowly articulates.

"Yeah…? So? You don't like it?"

"I…"

"Hachi, to me it was always apparent that we're the opposite sides of the same coin. We're one the antithesis of the other, but we're destined to be together, even if we don't want it. Separating us would be painful, as it had been for me all this time. We win and we lose together, dear, like old times. This is only my way to finally tell you I'm very happy to see you again."

Hachi stops and interlocks with Nana a serious, but intense look.

"Where did you get all that from…?"

"Some strange books, that somehow appealed to me."

"Sounds illegal."

"I think so. But who checks the guardians? I have quite a collection. Wanna read it together?"

"That's definitely illegal."

"Do you realize we're the only two officers left here? No one is going to call you a bad boy, except me…"

Hachi blinks literally inches from her eyes, as her smile dramatically widens. Their gazes linger on each other for a couple of seconds more, then Nana breaks the stare with a playful pout.

"I know, I know, there's something more important before that! Do whatever you have to, oh commander, my commander, I'll take care of everything until you return - just don't be afraid. I will watch you and support you from above, as always it had been since older and happier times. But before that…"

Nana places her right hand onto Hachi's chest, feeling on her fingertips the slow beating of his heart.

"Please, don't go on saying that you have nothing inside here. Past that steel armor of yours, there's a little something floating about, and it really shows, you know? Just like in the plain sight of daylight," she softly smiles. "You should know more than anyone that you can't hide those things from your other half…" she says in her eternal meek but sly smile while passing her index finger on the line between his ribcage.

"Hm. I'll think about it." Hachi slowly parts with her while leveraging on his knees to get upright, turns away with his face grinding the floor and makes to go past the lines of computer terminals towards the tower elevator's entrance. Halfway, he stops and slightly turns his head the direction of Nana.

"Back when we parted, I thought I'd never see you again. You didn't change much as well, always that odd habit of perversely spying on people."

"Eeeh, spying?" Nana crosses her arms. "Don't you dare say such outrageous things, it's just innocent curiosity, nothing else! I swear on my woman's dignity!" she playfully protests.

Hachi's mouth slightly angles. "…Whatever."

He reaches the elevator, pushes the button and, after some seconds, the cabin external door part. He steps in and, with his finger hovering onto the ground floor button, he addresses her for the last time.

"I'm happy to see you, too."

"Hmmm, feels good~! Thanks, dear!"

"No problem. See you shortly."

Hachi hits the button, and the heavy sliding doors shut close instantly with a slight hiss. Soon enough, the throbbing sensation of gravity takes over his body while the cabin plunges towards the bottom of the tower. Through the see-through thick glass panes, the intermittent elevator shaft windows' shadows pass over his serious face looking down past the elevator cabin. The ground speeds towards him with breakneck speed and the details of the Nest slowly come out from the blur, and with its sheer size slowly overshadowing his senses again, as it should be. Up that tower, the world seemed so small, so simple… in the end, it was just an illusion.

Now, for him, there's only to face his mistakes, and somehow try and make up for them.

He had to be strong to overcome his own monsters. For those children's sake, and their longed future.

...

* * *

 **The Blind King and The Lady of the Tower - END**

* * *

...

Check out my profile for the forum's link, where you can discuss the chapter. See you towards late November!


	15. CHAPTER 15 :: A place for your heart

...

* * *

 **Chapter 15**

 **A place for your heart**

* * *

...

Who to call? Who to ask for help…?

A pearl of sweat races down Ikuno's forehead while her eyes linger locked onto the communicator, silently wishing with all herself a spark of intuition, a suggestion out of thin air. Seconds pass, but her head remains clear as a blank slate. Suddenly, she pinches her nose and frowns, forcing herself to desperately dump out her mind and scrounge an answer.

Ichigo…? She's her first thought in her mind, as always. She would have been an invaluable moral support, that's for sure, and that's not just because of her feelings. Ikuno doesn't have her bossiness, her firm wrist, her attitude and her sweetness, her… everything. And most importantly that everything is delivered all at the same time. Knowing Ikuno's shortcomings at personal relationships, she would have known how to communicate with Hachi and drive some specks of sense into him, she would have surely known better how to talk to others and- but... she's together… with Goro… at the hospital.

Ahhh-! Goro! The mere thought of Ichigo being within meters of that dog! His way to be so perpetually calm and collected drives her sick…! And, to not talk about the way he's always behind her with his ever-wagging-tail…! And you see, the state of reality is even worse at this moment! Since he's a serial martyr on top of being an idiot, Ichigo is most probably already at his bedside, caring for him and grooming him up like and… Uhhhg! The mere thought makes Ikuno nauseous! And her next thought isn't that far off either…

Mitsuru? He's a lost cause, that's for sure. He drove Chloropythum with her a long time ago, so she perfectly knows that trusting him is the worst idea in the world, second maybe to ask a Klaxxosaur to be your play-friend. After living inside his head for more than six months straight, she wouldn't even think for a full second about re-delving inside it and scoop up manure again. With that self-loathing attitude of his, he would be capable to side with that idiot across the room-! Wouldn't they make a splendid squad together, with that character of theirs? At least dear Kokoro sorta turned him a decent guy after he switched partners with Futoshi, but that lasted too short after their brainwash, way too short than it was actually needed to be permanent. She needs helping hands, not liabilities, jeez…!

Hiro, Zero Two…? That's impossible, they've been hospitalized after the battle, and they're not in shape to be even walking, as she was told. After not having any news on them for a week straight, the squad worried quite a bit, but she honestly didn't care until now. Hiro, of course, would have his charisma on the ready to resolve the situation right away: just a pep-talk and there you go, better than Papa's mind tricks! That guy would convince you to jump off a window, given the right motivation… yeah, motivation, that's a lost cause with him. His sole and only motivation is his pistil, the horned-girl-and-former-partner-killer, Zero Two. She's still with him in a bed as far as she knows, despite her insane - borderline inhumane metabolism… would she have been a helpful hand in this situation? In hindsight, thinking how she almost killed her own entire squad out of a sad misunderstanding, it's better this way. She actually knows that she's a sweet girl down inside, past her being exaggerated and savage, but this is not what she needs right now. Futoshi already looks a ticking bomb himself, it's not wise to have another, bigger one in the vicinity.

Oh, she forgot Miku and Zor… actually, nevermind.

Is this it…? Is that all? Like that? Over as quickly as she started thinking? Is that all the help she could muster if she really tried…?

"Are you kidding me-!" she frustratingly whispers.

This is so nerve-wracking! What does she have to do with all of this? It's not her fault, it's the Adults! They took care of everything for them, everything they ever needed, so they never had to put up with anything and concentrate in fighting the Klaxxosaurs for the glory of humanity, and then they dropped the ball like -poof!- they're gone! What on earth she's supposed to do? They knew how to do stuff, and they vanished without saying a word! In the end, everything she could muster to do is to sit down like a duck and wait for someone to clean up after her!

"Unforgivable…!"

Of course, previously the way she'd try and unlock such a situation is to leave herself on Hachi's judgment but… with all the things she learned from the boy protecting her little pistil, opening up to him feels a gigantic gamble. He had always been a competent and level-headed commander to them, and paired to Nana a stern but dear counselor… but what about the current situation, what about the Klaxxosaurs? Ikuno knows that the boy across the room totally nailed the problem head-on: those demons are still here on earth, and most probably, they are meant to stay after that Pyrrhic victory at Gran Crevasse. Papa, the only one with the absolute power to stop them, left at the crucial moment and made so that every sacrifice in the span of a hundred years ended up completely vain. So, he might feel justified to do what he thinks it's the better course of action and… yes, of course. Just like a trough-and-trough officer would behave… to ensure humanity's survival.

At any cost necessary.

Revealing him where they were was completely out of the question, as she wanted to keep at least the promise she made to the long-haired stamen. She doesn't feel like trying on their skin if what he said was true or not, that's for sure… Ikuno didn't feel being part of that cost, either. So, any open options on the table yet…? No. None. Not even a shadow of one. But, even if they were? Would they understand what's going on? Would they be as adamant as her, and what she's doing?

Ikuno cradles her forehead with her free hand, disappointed and more devoid of any hope as ever.

"Why…? Why no one understands?"

While absorbed in her thoughts, though, her mind freezes over for a second. Still a bit confused, she slowly picks up the cues of what's wrong in her, and a vague picture pops up in her mind for the first time like a realization slapping on the back of her head. Ikuno sneers… as she finally admits. A painful admission for sure, but… there's something she disregarded for too much time. And such a realization is that, in her intimate, she feels alone, despite being surrounded by people. Not as 'alone' like when being by yourself and needing to have some human contact, but the alone-kind that happens when surrounded by people that make you feel alone.

It's harsh to admit it, but for the longest time she never truly connected with anyone. Ichigo, Goro, Hiro, Futoshi, Mitsuru, Zorome, Miku… even them, her supposed teammates, so-called friends that she watched over, actually live in worlds miles apart from hers, inaccessible and hermetic. For the longest time, she couldn't properly talk to them and expose her inner self in a way she found comfortable. She just pretended that the sole feeling of comradeship was enough, so she could function as a pilot while lulling herself with the security of having her squad by her side and vice-versa. That status-quo worked for a while, but going forward, somehow, it stopped giving her something she needed. There was some kind of a wall between her and others, so much thick and impenetrable she didn't feel any less alone than being the only person alive in this world.

No one was there for her and understand what she felt.

Why was that? Was it completely incapable of connecting to others? Or were they that didn't try hard enough to come close to her? With her stamens, the ones she was supposed to share her own mind in the line of duty, it didn't work more than the sufficient amount to turn on a FranXX. It's not that she didn't even try… one time, when the partner switch happened and couldn't bear anymore to drive with Mitsuru, she tried to enter a FranXX with Ichigo as pistil and her as a stamen, in order to finally open her mind to someone she was comfortable with and end her own suffering. Ichigo would work, of course, she would! She literally walked a meter off the ground at the mere thought! She tried her hardest to connect, but… after countless minutes spent to try and try, nothing happened. All she found were walls, walls and more walls, and… a dry comment in the changing room.

"I knew couldn't work…"

But Ikuno didn't, and the disappointment she felt was a burn of highest of degree. Complete failure. The connection graph wouldn't budge an inch. That's the limitation of the driving system, for some reason there can be only a male stamen and a girl pistil, and by corollary, girls can't drive a FranXX with other girls. The revelation of that fact didn't console her, quite the opposite: as it didn't work outside the FranXX, it didn't work even inside it, and, most importantly, it didn't work with Ichigo, the person that represented everything positive in her whole world for so long, that carried her through her constant dissatisfaction due to living with people, apart from books. Now, it was like the whole extent of what she called reality refused her, bare some consumed pages from a dusty and old tome, but that doesn't count. Books can console you, bring you to another place and isolate you from your problems, but… reality is always there to stay after the last page turns.

Is she doomed to never connect to people? Is this something that can go away, or is it her own personal curse? Can she do something about it, or is it too late? Is it just a temporary fault, or is it something lodged so deep inside her whole being that's impossible to recover from? At that instant, a void around her heart materializes, sucking every warmth apart from her beating vessels. Was it always there? Did she just shove her own heart deeper inside in order to not feel it anymore? That familiar feeling… She forgot about it for the longest time, hasn't she? It had always been like that since when she was little. After all the time that passed, when Ichigo first approached her, that feeling disappeared like stormy clouds carried away by warm and strong winds. Just like her smile, whose radiance made her feel accepted for the first time in her life. But that storm, that lingering dread… it never really left. It was just suppressed, concealed, taken away to another sky. But the earth goes around each day, and you've never under the same sky twice. Eventually, after even the clearest day, rainy clouds are bound to reform, in the shape of countless cold, refusing hands, erratically grasping at your back with fingers sharp as daggers. The painful feeling of loneliness, once again joining with her.

Being alone is so…

«RING RING RING RING!»

"Huh!?" Ikuno jumps as the communicator in her hand suddenly explodes in vibration and a nondescript, anonymous ringtone bursts from it. "Who-!" She flicks on the screen, eventually powered down as she was trying to think, and a mature, serious face with jet-black hair painted by solitary strands of white appears before her.

...

* * *

 ** _Incoming call_**

 ** _Code FP18-R6DE-013_**

 ** _Swipe to pick up_**

* * *

 _..._

"Who…?" Ikuno tries to recognize the person displayed in the call interface, but her puzzled look shows how she had never seen that face ever. Then, her look passes over his uniform makes her realize it's the same one that the parasites in the hospital in the Nest's tower are wearing since they started living there. The only person she had been talking to… coming from there… isn't that mysterious stamen, Code 013? "Oh, damn… I forgot about him…"

He told her he would have gone down to the spheres to look inside the couple's room, but that escaped her mind when she stormed outside with Futoshi and Kokoro, hell-bent in finding 121 and 723 before Hachi did. She had been careless! He's already there, and Ikuno was supposed to be with him… Her hand makes to swipe the holographic screen to deliver her excuses, but her fingers linger motionless above the caption, hesitant. How is she supposed to explain where she is? Above all, could she reveal to him their situation? Could she trust him? Ikuno mentally goes back to their conversation, and some strands of his speech emerge clear from her own memory.

 _Push through what? Do you think this is a military operation? No, it's not! This is a different type of fight! You can't do this on your own!_

 _Did you ever stop and acknowledge this is not just the fight of Plantation 13 and that everyone has a stake in this? We're all in the same boat!_

 _I can understand why people in the Spheres are breaking down, they are left alone, scared!_

He was right! He knew everything from the get-go, this is no fight she, her companions or even Hachi or others can fight alone! This problem is far deeper than she ever imagined, so pervasive, so humongous... this is the problem of the society they always lived in. Everything that was supposed to be right is, painfully, awfully wrong in every way possible. Everyone is scared and apart from each other, unable to connect with others, to have intimacy or fraternity, and most importantly to have hope for their future. This is eating everyone alive from the inside, creating hate, enmity, isolation, hopelessness, and pain. Now that little bubble has burst and the world is finally revealed as it is before her, she finally understands everything!

Solitude creates monsters! Awful, terrible, inescapable monsters!

But now Ikuno wants to finally defeat them, and defeat her own in the process as well! Maybe in this world, past all the terrible things that have happened, there's a way to finally understand each other and clear the shadows of doubt, to cast away fear and finally express what lingers down deep, without the insurmountable barriers that the adults placed on them without any apparent reason or rationale! She knows that such a world is possible…

So, her slender fingers swipe the screen.

As soon as the call is picked up, an annoyed voice resounds in her earpiece.

"Finally-! What's with everyone not picking up, jeez!"

"He-Hello?" Ikuno jumps at the surprise.

"Oh-! Umm, sorry about that, 196! But, hell-! People should always keep their communicators by them! This is an emergency after all!"

"S-Sure, sorry… and sorry I'm not in the Spheres anymore."

"What-? No, no, no, no! You're actually at the place you are supposed to be!"

Ikuno's eyes open wide as the fear of having being discovered rings clear in her chest. Was she followed!? Is he siding with Hachi? Is he actually trying to-!

"I've- I've-!" Ikuno stutters, but the mature voice overpowers her.

"You've done a splendid job, Ikuno, but now comes the more difficult part of this. I've been inside the couple's room, and I've found the hematic traces you've been talking to me before, and it was abundantly clear that's something grave, very grave. I'm sure- no, I'm dead sure, this is actually a case of an elixir-related syndrome."

"Elixir…?"

"Yeah. You know the treatment they give to children that are willing to become parasites even if their compatibility with the FranXX system is low?"

Ikuno stops for a moment, then her eyes jump as she remembered the conversation she had with Futoshi and Hachi over the phone coming from the elevator, and more importantly even something about when she was little while living at the Garden. "You mean the- yes! A stamen of our squad, Mitsuru, Code 326, had taken it once in order to drive!"

"Really? Was he fine afterward?"

"Actually, we didn't see him for a month straight. We thought it was a routine procedure, and…! After all these years, just now I realized he actually had a chance to-! He'd been capable to drive since… at least averagely, but at what risk!"

"Ah, yeah… they make it sound like you've decided by yourself that you've taken the treatment, as a voluntary thing… It makes me absolutely sick. You know, that treatment scars you for life. How could you decide something like that as a kid? You're not informed about the consequences as a kid, you can't even imagine the hell you're thrown into…" Hisui's voice cracks a little, then resumes.

Ikuno stops to process the last sentence. "Wait. What do you mean, scarred for life?"

"The treatment… has a chance for dire complications. The little Code 723 survived at first… but there's something more."

Ikuno's eyes scrawl. "More…?"

"The blood on the sheets, back at their room, was actually hers."

Ikuno's expression aggravates. "No way!" Somehow, it was like she knew all along, but the reality was actually scarier when said out aloud.

"Unfortunately, she was administered the elixir right before being shipped for service. Fortunately, she survived. But… the aftereffects didn't stop there."

"B-but, I thought that the elixir is dangerous just when you take it!"

"No, that's actually false. You get put in strict observation even after the administration, and even for months in some cases, because the elixir warps your insides in ways that shouldn't be safe to do with mutagens! In this fringe case, the elixir keeps warping your body further even after the desired effect, triggering a body-degenerative syndrome. The girl just had the worst weeks of her life… "

"Mutagens…? Degenerative!? Is she-! Are you telling me she never got treatment after-!"

"I'm dead serious right now. The situation is very grave- I've already sent a sample to get a quick counter-factor solution for her, and I'm expecting to receive it in about ten minutes. Long story short, she's in a life-threatening situation right now- and we don't have time to waste if we want her to recover!"

"Is she going to…!"

"From what I've seen by the samples, if she doesn't receive it in a couple of hours, there won't be any hope."

"NO!" Ikuno's aghast expression is hurriedly covered by her hand, which forces her yell back down her throat. Then, she shuts her eyes and grits her teeth to steer herself back on track, where she was lodged from by the sudden revelation.

"I know where you guys are. I've contacted Hachi…"

At his name, Ikuno frowns. "Hachi…"

"He knows about the situation, you don't have to be on edge with him. He looked as distraught as you when I told him that. He sure didn't want this to get out of hand, I assure you."

"Did he…?"

"Yeah, he looked so lost and clueless… that's so unlike him. I had the pervasive thought of someone switching persons with him…"

"Uh…?"

"Or, you know, maybe he just changed with time. Anyways, is code 121 there with you?"

"Yes…?"

"What's his stance on the situation?"

"He won't let us close to the girl, he's terrified and confrontational-!"

"Hmpf, figures. Well, the pistil doesn't have any time for that, so we don't either. I'm about to get down there with… ten of us, get her out of there, administer the delayer and transport her on a hover stretcher to the main hospital, where she's going to be placed under full-time treatment. She has months to catch up on the medication she lost!"

"Wait! A-are you telling me you're going to take a bunch of people here and-!"

"If he's still in the violent mood…" Hisui pauses, as about to say something "Sometimes, saving a life means putting in danger another."

"But-! He's not doing this because he's evil, but because he's convinced he's actually protecting her! He's just terrified of everyone! How could you go at him like that? Are you going waltz on him and… use violence?!"

"…"

At the sudden silence filling the line, Ikuno presses on. "Are you still there? Answer me!"

"Ikuno, don't make this more difficult than it already is."

"Difficult-!"

"Yes, difficult-! Reality is not simple, it's difficult! As much as I don't want to do it, I don't know what the hell is up with him! Surely he would have noticed that the girl has some problems, wouldn't he? Then, why didn't he thought a little how she felt earlier? Why didn't he picked up that his pistil is in extreme danger? Hell, his being clouded by his emotions, and he's going to make a grave mistake if we don't stop him immediately! Are you telling me you're fine at just watching that little girl wither in front of your eyes while you try to calm his guts down? That's not acceptable, you're being unreasonable!"

"Unreasonable?" Ikuno's voice paints with a clear shade of pure grudge. "Papa did the same thing to us, to me and our squad! He sent a group of Guards to our Plantation, they stormed in our home and beat us down to the ground like animals! Then, they apprehended two of my teammates and wiped their memories to the point they didn't even know each other anymore! They returned as two blank slates, after everything we went through! The shame and the fear I felt that moment that I realized that our lives were just a fancy, re-programmable and disposable tool-! How in the world would you say that I'm unreasonable!"

"You…"

"Since that day, I promised myself that I won't make that happen ever again, to anybody! And you know what, I actually understand his stance about being jumpy at everyone! Imagine what they had done to him in order for him to be like that! Isn't that normal? If I experienced that, just imagine what happened to him! I don't want that happening anymore! I wouldn't live anymore thinking that I've made someone get the same thing that Papa did when trying to breaking us apart! And what about you? Would you do it all the same? After all the things you've told me before, how would you even look yourself in the mirror?"

"It's actually quite a while that I can't look myself in the mirror," Hisui says deadpan to the communicator. From his side of the communication, the loud steps accompanying his words suddenly halted.

"What… do you mean?"

"I also know shame. It's a very familiar feeling, by now," he says with a mellow voice. "For the longest time, I felt it every day, while wearing this white coat. Each day I put it on myself, it reminded me of how the world was nothing as I imagined when I grew up… I was so full of energy, so wishful, so idealistic… then, all of a sudden, I found myself in a cold, solitary place, with no escape or relief and a life that I wished I didn't have. And now…"

Hisui takes a long, deep breath.

"Now I don't want that shame anymore! I have the power to decide my path on my own! I'm a doctor," he proudly declares, "so I save lives! That's how it should be! And that's exactly what I want to do now, I just want to save her life and give her the hope she never had!"

Ikuno's shoulders slump.

"If even just one person falls before me, I know won't forgive myself. I won't try and hurt Code 121, but I won't stand by as he condemns his pistil, either. Forgive me, but I have to do it. I want to be there for her, even against his stamen's will, or anyone's will for how much I care-!"

"That's..."

"The world is an unforgiving place. Sometimes, the situation just leaves you without choice. Sometimes, you hate what you must do, but you do it regardless. Sometimes, you have to live with the consequences of your actions well after your decisions, be it right or wrong, and regardless if it was for right or wrong. It's called taking responsibility. It's called behaving like an adult."

"Adult…?"

"Yes. Not the kind that was taught to you, though, nothing like what that word meant in the Old World. A hundred years ago, back when Plantations didn't exist yet, that word appealed to someone to look up to, someone to be proud of and to which ask for guidance… and being in front of one felt like being in front of one of the many cornerstones of the world. Definitely not the kind that populates the Plantations that we were made to worship."

Ikuno's mesmerized expression hovers onto Hisui's forlorn smile, unable to say anything.

"I-I… didn't… worship…"

"Nice hearing that. But, in the end, this is what I ought to do. If this world has any mercy left, I want to be the hand of that mercy, the one once carried the world in his wake."

That statement makes Ikuno finally comes out from her woodwork and deliver the first out-of-the-chest thought she ever blurted, after being regarded it a sealed and inaccessible place for so long.

"That's incredibly beautiful to hear."

"It's just people like me and you, here and now, Ikuno. We're the ones that want to change the world, whose actions will shape the future for everyone, and… yes. We're the adults in charge now. We have a great responsibility ahead, girl, so carry it proudly."

Ikuno has understood perfectly what he was talking about. In a moment long an eternity, she finally feels that something touched her down deep, so deep, in a place so intrinsically tied to her being that the caress of such thoughts made her shiver, smile and cry internally at the same time. Ikuno didn't even imagine that she carried such a place in herself! What was that abode? So hidden and concealed behind the deadly grove of her fears and irrationalities, now though she finally found a lodge, a clearing, a meadow, vibrating, beautiful but unyielding and savage, raw and honest at the same time. Isn't that… what she heard it was called… the place where her soul resides?

Yes, it must be!

Is it the indescribable sensation of her soul dancing irrationally in her chest, or is it her heart fibrillating from the excitement? She can't tell anymore from the two like they fused to generate more energy than all the stars of the night sky combined! The mere thought of being finally the master of her own destiny is equal to hundreds of bombs going off at the same time! Finally, after all this time waiting and concealing herself behind countless walls, Ikuno feels having the power to realize her inner self and to reach over to her own deep desires, accompanied by the most inebriating feeling she ever felt in her own short and sad life! A mind-warping thought passes her mind- she is free! She can be herself, finally! She can make the world accept her, and escape from that reality where she's forced inside a box that was the role of a tool for war, and gracefully go into one where-! Where…

Where she truly matters for someone.

Ikuno feels like her eyes got humid for a second, and for good measure, a bright smile appears on her face. "Yes, finally… finally!"

Hisui is caught completely by surprise from Ikuno's reaction. "Haha, yes, finally indeed, huh? I'm glad you're happy to take the torch…"

After some long sighs to calm herself down and moment of recollection, Ikuno squints her eyes behind her glasses, then grips her forehead and pulls the front of her disheveled white hair, like trying to pull out an idea from her head like pulling a cabbage from the ground. "Aaagghh, I know! Just-! Just give me fifteen minutes, please trust me! I know I can convince him somehow!"

"Twelve."

"Jeez! Give me a break, would you!"

"I really hope you can, though…. Ok, whatever, make that twenty tops, I don't like having to resort to violence either. But in extremis…"

"I'll make him eat right back that attitude of his-!"

"Whoa, girl! With your attitude, you'll smash his face before I do!"

"Y-you…!"

"Hehe, just kidding! I'm counting on you prematurely and safely detaching the guard dog from the girl, then. Good luck and see you in a bit!"

With such words, the call closes shut, and Ikuno keeps her eyes lingering on the 'Call closed' captions still hovering above the communicator's body. Eventually, her lungs instinctually force her to remember to breathe, and the white-out in her head is blown away.

"I don't have any time to waste-!" She flips the slab of electronics among her fingers, but before putting it back in her leg pocket, a movement beside her catches the tail of her eye.

Kokoro had eavesdropped the conversation. As soon as Ikuno turns to her, she's already frantically and embarrassedly excusing herself for her intrusion.

"S-Sorry! I-I-I-I di-di-didn't want to-"

"Nevermind, Kokoro, I wouldn't hide that from you either way," Ikuno says as she drags her by the arm towards the far corner of the back room.

"I-Ikuno…?" she squeals, and when they've regained a little privacy, Ikuno cradles both her hands inside her own.

"Did you hear everything?"

"Y-yes, I think…! But… what the adult part meant…?"

"That meant we're in charge now, for the good and the worse. And we have to do something before the guys from the hospital force their way to her."

"H-How-! Isn't that dangerous…?"

"Not if we appeal to him and we convince him that we're not here to hurt him."

"I… I don't know what to think about it…" Kokoro's gaze wanders through the room, lost in thought. "Say, Ikuno… was I happy before they removed my memories?"

"You…" Ikuno looks her straight in the eyes, pondering her question. She did talk about her, and others never bothered to explain to her properly, but she was there with her, she witnessed it all. At least, she could tell her those moments, even if forever lost from the violence of Papa. "Yes. Your smile was so bright... You were so, so beautiful."

"Ah…?"

"You were… another Kokoro. I swear that, when you've had come to love Mitsuru, your smile was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my entire life. It was like the entire world didn't really matter to you, could it fall or crack, you wouldn't even flinch. What it mattered to you was only Mitsuru, and him only, and so you were the same for Mitsuru, and you both completed each other. Seeing you two together was the most mesmerizing thing I've ever seen, I was so, so jealous. But then…"

Ikuno's delicate lineaments aggravate.

"I see. Thanks for wishing for others to not happen what happened to me… I don't know what I've lost, really… but… I understand it was very important for everyone."

"Yes. I think it showed me what I really lacked. But most of it all, it was important even for you, Kokoro. That day, they stole something important from you, and that is such a thing I can't forgive…!"

The ashen-blond haired girl's lips start trembling, and in no time, she frees her hands from her hold and launches forward.

"Ikuno…!"

"Koko-!" the bespectacled girl suddenly finds herself being embraced by her friend, with her head firmly lodged in her shoulder and her body steadily pressed against hers, with the holographic tables still shining dimly against the black backdrop of the walls' penumbra. "Kokoro…"

Eventually, she wraps around her arms around the girl, and -albeit with quite the blush- softly gathers her body to be in full contact with hers and putting her cheek pressed against her head. They linger in that position for a couple of seconds, then among her soft sniffles, a voice resounds from inside her chest.

"I'm so lucky… to have all of you… worrying about me…"

"Don't mention it, Kokoro. We're here for each other, aren't we?"

"Hehehe…!"

Ikuno, given her natural proclivity on girls, with two such… features pressed against her, she's on the seventh heaven already. But alas, she's not the right one for her… Eventually, Kokoro releases her hold, leaving some wet spots on her shoulders.

"Thanks, Ikuno… I don't really know what I've lost… but one thing I've never lost is you, and my friends! Thanks for always being at my side! I'm sure there will be thousands of happier moments more… I know life doesn't end here!"

"Yes, it's going to be different from now on. But… we're going to make the difference and make it so that it won't happen to anyone ever again. Starting, now…! I'll need your help, though… could you?"

"I'm…" her friend hesitates for a moment, but just for a moment. "I-If you ask me, I'm willing to do anything! I trust you, Ikuno!"

Ikuno blushes even more, and a sincere smile finally dawns on her eternal all-business demeanor.

"Thanks, Kokoro. Let's go!"

She turns towards the storage room to find it as they previously left it. A few steps in, with the meek, ashen-blond friend in her wake, Ikuno summons a quick reality check: Futoshi is still lashing out on the stamen in front of him, but the courageous blond girl's efforts are actually working, and they haven't started the brawl yet. What are they going to resolve with that? Instead of focusing on the real issue on hand, it was almost like everyone had forgotten why they were there in the first place…

Everyone but her.

Ikuno's gaze raises from the hologram of the communicator and darts past the commotion Futoshi and Code 121 are making and plunges among the mess of chairs, stacks of black-shaded computer components. There, tucked in the corner, she finds a pair of shining, small yet big eyes, full of tears, fear and pain. There she is, the little girl, Code 723. Tucked in a nest made of thick bed covers but still trembling like a leaf in the wind. Looking at the still white blankets she's tucked into, she really does seem like he's about to wander off death's door at any moment, as her white skin blends into the steel wall behind her. Are those the effects of having bled that much? Eventually, the little girl's eyes interlock with hers, and the cub's fear vanishes for a second for curiosity to take place instead. She stares intensely inside her eyeballs, maybe in remembering something, and they spend an infinite second in gazing at each other, then they squeeze as a fit of pain takes her senses. Quick breaths and panicky hands try to take hold of the edge of the blankets, confused like an injured puppy trapped in a cave witnessing her wolf father keeping a hungry bear at bay.

Ikuno suddenly wishes she hadn't read so many books about nature…

"I'm doing all of this for her, am I not…?" Ikuno whispers.

...

* * *

 **A place for your heart - END**

* * *

...

Forum link: fanfiction (dot!) net/topic/216244/179929611/1/

Beta: CoCo


	16. EXTRA :: Character Dossiers

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* * *

 **WARNING: THIS MESSAGE CHAIN CONTAINS SENSITIVE DATA AUTOMATICALLY OBSCURED FOR LACK OF CENTRAL AUTHORIZATION, AS PER OBLIVION PROTOCOL. ANY ATTEMPT AT RESTORING THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE WILL BE PERSECUTED WITH HIGHEST DEGREE OF ZEAL.**

 **THY KNOWLEDGE, THY FEAR.**

 **OMNIPOTENT FATHER, PUREST OF TRUTHS.**

 **THY IGNORANCE, THY BLISS.**

* * *

 **DATE:** [REDACTED]

 **FROM:** 1st Class High Cmdr [REDACTED], Denomination CODE::008

 **TO:** 2nd Class Staff Sgt. IT Division [REDACTED], Denomination CODE::007

 **SUBJECT:** Connection status and parasite intel

* * *

Good morning, Nana.

Unfortunately, I have some early-morning bad news. Like we reviewed yesterday, I let the system run overnight on a scan-search routine as you suggested, but the long-range connection attempts were still negative with a 100% failure rate. At this point, I'm positive that [REDACTED] vaporized with its beam particle weapon even the data satellites in geostationary orbit, three days ago. It pains to admit it, but [REDACTED] is completely disconnected from the information grid, and most likely will remain that way as we don't have nearly the equipment to restore such infrastructure. Putting sophisticated machinery in orbit is beyond a normal challenge even if we had a rocket sitting on the launch pad and ready to go.

I've loomed over our situation and, in no shape or form we can expect to survive on our own without information and supplies from outside. A silver lining in all this situation is that, even if the global connection is offline, we're still connected to the support bases and the Plantations are still reachable with our conventional radio systems on a point-to-point system, so I can track their position. The worst part is that all my hail attempts had been either automatically refused for lack of security clearance or outright ignored. I've hailed the closest plantations [REDACTED], [REDACTED], and [REDACTED] until I decided to use the Emergency Broadcast to contact the sky fortress [REDACTED], all to no avail. Well, this is all in the realm of the expected. If there's a single thing I'd like to not be positive for, it's the fact that the entire [REDACTED] skeleton crew's helmet malfunction was not a fluke, but a coordinated attack by those beings from space. And if we're to follow that reasoning, there would be fewer and fewer reasons to hope for someone to reply back.

Right now I feel like we're the last humans alive in thousands of kilometers radius. But, even if we were, we can't stay still and do nothing, because we have hundreds of parasites living just under the tower. For this, I must thank the medical team, but now it's time to do our part and avoid to tax them more than they were at [REDACTED]. You might already know that I managed some FranXX squads before, and coincidentally the last was an experimental one at [REDACTED] under the supervision of [REDACTED]. You might notice that such squad was the one that I appointed for the rescue that day, and now the one that's tasked at minimal maintenance duty: I trust them in full capacity to do what's necessary to keep the base operational until we find a solution, for survival's sake. They are extremely dependable both on FranXX duty and off and you can trust them yourself.

I have a new task for you. I might know personally my former FranXX squad, but we're in complete darkness regarding the other two-hundred parasites. Actually, our disconnection from the Grid makes things worse as we can't access the [REDACTED]'s data about them. So, while I try to sort out the Combat Readiness System, could you please get a local database going with every info still available? You can ask Code 013 for such data since he compiled a database of medical records for each one of them. Also the ashen-blond-haired pistil of [REDACTED], Code 556, is currently keeping tabs on their rooms. You also mentioned you could access the third-level caches of the [REDACTED], could you also add that information when available?

Ah, and I'd like you to start with someone in particular: Code 371 and Code 376. Being former squad leaders, I need to know their situation as I'm planning to expand our base operations. Also, could you pick a couple of the ones that have child parasites? I feel we need to keep closer tabs to them, we're just me and you here, I don't want to neglect those particular pairing situations.

Thanks in advance.

Hachi

PS: Could it possible to disable this censoring feature? It's very annoying. I trust your extensive expertise. Anyways, I hope you can make out the missing contents, but if you have any questions do please come up to the tower. I'm here as always.

...

* * *

 **DATE:** [REDACTED]

 **FROM:** 2nd Class Staff Sgt. IT Division [REDACTED], Denomination CODE::007

 **TO:** 1st Class High Cmdr [REDACTED], Denomination CODE::008

 **SUBJECT:** RE: Connection status and parasite intel

* * *

Got it.

This censoring feature is due to the fact we're in offline mode as you (maybe) missed by the big caption on top of the message chain. We need either a level A auth card on the main comms console or go online by reestablishing the connection with the aerial fortress, but I guess we're out of the footprint of the remaining satellites if any are still orbiting up there. An idea might be setting up a series of relays from here towards the southern or northern quadrant and hope they are still operational, but it's quite the stupid bet. This censoring system is not AI-driven, it's just a substitution RegExp. They didn't think much about its functionality, it's not normally necessary- it's more efficient to invent some creative aliases for referring the information the system is censoring. No need to be always that formal and granitic, to be honest. Not that I dislike that part of you anyways...

So, what's this eagerness in getting to suddenly know everything about the parasites? Don't you have all those high-resolution cameras pointed at them, then why are you ask me to get their lives on a piece of paper? Do you feel guilty while peeking at them, unaware of you? How unbecoming... Or, do you want to have their lives on hand, ready on a bundle of paper, as they belong to you down to the last detail? Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with that. Do you want me to place some cameras inside their rooms, so more than everything is under your control? I know what it means wanting to satisfy your curiosity... it all begins with simple questions...

Just kidding. I have the info of those four you requested already on hand. I was bored, so I dug in a little. You'd be surprised at what I've found in my spare time- with an extra I think you'll appreciate.

Oh, by the way, you don't have to be that impenetrable. Especially with me. Remember that I know you well, but I just can't get enough. How about we keep on tabs like the old days? Now that Papa is gone, I feel like I've reborn. I love it.

See you later, 6-pack.

Yours truly, Nana.

...

This message contains 4 attached files.

 **1\. Code 371's dossier**

 **2\. Code 376's dossier**

 **3\. Code 121's dossier**

 **4\. Code 723's dossier**

...

* * *

...

See the attachments at imgur (dot!) com/a/K3EFXK7

If you're unable to get the link from here, try going to my LTF forum on Fanfiction dot net, I will be posting the link to the materials also there.

(Don't make me ramble on how on AO3 this type of content would be super easy to add! Shame on you, FFN)

fanfiction (dot!) net/topic/216244/178491680/1/EXTRA-Character-Dossiers-discussion


	17. CHAPTER 16 :: What love really means

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* * *

 **Chapter 16**

 **What love really means**

* * *

...

The silence in the grand ring corridor encompassing the Bird Nest complex is sharply cut by Hisui's running footsteps, slowly and slowly decelerating as his breath is getting heavier with every step. While desperately running along for the main tower, he stops bent in two by his breathless lungs while interiorly cursing his feeble stamina pitted against the urgency of the situation - an ill-suited pairing indeed. The small shoulder bag he's carrying is proving to be his most dire foe in this hurried moment.

"Daaamn… who misses the personnel transports, eh? Huff... huff… this one right here! Twelve minutes I said-! Hah… hah… I was joking too soon!"

While silently cursing himself, he forces his back upright and takes long breaths to give relief and some oxygen to the muscles of his last lower limb still attached to him. Not that the other one, now completely mechanical, protests. In fact, it's working even _too_ fine, to the point that all the other muscles of his body are on fire in his stead, the back ones especially. With a slight point of regret, Hisui thinks it had been better if he had taken more seriously those rehab lessons because now he's totally paying those twice. Not that he has to run like that every day, though, but the thought of his mechanical body part somehow overshadowing the other remaining organic ones makes him a bit uneasy. Not that he asked for them to break down anyways…

"Ahh… c'mon, just some more…"

He glances down at the large corridor, to only find its infinitely repeating wall patterns bending into a slight left-curve, without any sign of it ending. Being almost arrived at the destination seems like exactly like not having moved a meter… the ultimate illusion of a never-ending road.

"I hate this place…"

With his last dry complaint, he resumes his jog and dials it down to a fast walk, better to reach the Tower's hospital in one piece. After a couple of minutes, he flips out his communicator, opens its holographic screen mid-walk and summons with some gestures the overhead map of the Nest. To his full relief, the green chevron placed on the Ring's orange-colored outline shows he's currently closest to the Tower bridge he was minutes ago, coming up on his right just in about… more of a hundred meters.

"Figures…"

Some stifled curses later, he finally reaches a wide T-cross section of the corridor, where an opening in the wall, past two sets of big bulletproof glass sliding doors, give way towards a wide suspension bridge crossing to the other side of the base. At least fifty meters long, at the other end of the walkaway could be seen another set of sun-glaring glass doors encrusted into a humongous stark-white wall, the front of the bird-shaped tower overlooking Bird Nest. Without any ado, the photocells trigger and he quickly cross into the light of the day, with the tepid help from a sun shining from atop the sky. As just out of habit, Hisui's gaze climbs upwards, counting the hundreds of windows rows neatly arranged on the forward-facing side of the main skyscraper-like section of the Nest. Right in the middle of it, spanning on a dozen multiple floors lies the Nest's hospital, a both familiar and foreign place, silent and chaotic at the same time. But strange as it sounds, it's not his next destination. First, he needs the elixir's syndrome retardant, then simply the time to apply it. But as much as he could easily manage the former, he knows perfectly how time escapes to never return.

As he reaches the other side in a hurry, the other set of glass sliding doors make way to a brief corridor of glassed displays of various fake plants paired with golden information plates, then to a bigger arched door, and finally to the Tower's lobby. There, lies the omnipresent iron tree sculptures and the main elevator, ready to be used… not actually, it's not ready to be used. Someone's already using it!

"Daaamn, tough luck-! Who might be…?"

Even if built with the last technologies available, the elevator still takes at least a minute to come down from the top of the tower to the lobby, and such time is completely wasted in just staring at the control's holoscreen, where the cabin's floor can be accurately tracked. Hisui approaches the elevator control buttons and pushes the call down button, then crosses his arms and begins to nervously tap his robotic foot on the floor, all the while silently cursing the one that designed the Tower for not having the common sense of at least making a pair of them. Eventually, though, the cabin reaches the lobby, and by his most eager surprise, the doors open to the face of Hachi.

"Oh!" Hisui smiles. "How come you're down here?"

Hachi glances at the white-coated stamen and then plainly explains, "I decided to get down from the Tower."

"Mh…? Did you unlock the engineering section's elevators as I requested?"

"Yes. If you have another issue, just forward it to Nana, she stands in as the Controller now and has management access. She knows this tower better than me, actually."

"Nana? O-Ooooh- yes, the other officer… red hair and bob cut… sly eyes… a bit of a character…"

"Perfect description."

"Ah! OK, then."

Hachi walks out of the elevator in a puissant, stoic but slightly robotic stride, but Hisui doesn't move from where he stands to let him pass. Instead, he keeps his stare up and shoots another question.

"May I ask you where you are going?"

Hachi stops, blocked by both his person and his intruding attitude, and his mouth angles slightly.

"Just a little curiosity, you know."

"I'm going there."

Hisui's eyes narrow. "And… then? What are you going to do?"

"I'm pent on evaluating what's happening… _more thoroughly_."

"I hope you don't have any intention to crash their meeting."

"Their?"

"Ikuno and his followers."

Hachi's eyes, solid like rocks, finally blink.

"Are they…?"

"They're already negotiating."

And then, twice more.

"Negotiating…?"

"Yes, you know… that one thing that Papa never did."

The commander's breath pauses for a moment, then his brow frowns.

"I see, but I will be there regardless. If I can also be helpful and reason with the Stamen, I will try so."

The young doctor smirks, "Eh… do you? I would be careful at putting at least a smile before that, just so that they know you're… you know…"

"I will also try that."

"Don't tell me-?"

"Keyword: try."

"Pfff-! Heh-ehehehehe! Always the same, Hachi!"

"As you are, Thirteen."

"Ah, if not, that would be a tragedy!"

"Or a miracle."

"Woah, cmoooon-! That's meeeean, man…"

"Kidding."

"Hehe! Sure…"

Hisui steps aside, and Hachi nods as he intrudes the way forward with his strong stride. As he's about to pass by him, the doctor gets up his right hand upright, hand closed and vertical with its knuckles facing towards Hachi, waiting for his move. The commander notices it with the corner of the eye and mirrors his pose, without ever breaking his stern attitude. At his passage, their knuckles collide with each other in an impromptu salute.

" _Libertas virorum,"_ Hachi begins,

"… _fortium pectora acuit,_ " and Hisui follows with his mouth arching in a smile. As soon as Hachi is past him, he takes a moment to observe the commander's poised but confident walk, heading towards the glass doors he just went through himself. Yes indeed, _freedom ignites the hearts of the valorous_ , and he does look like a certain general of the old world in his prime matching over to quell a rebellion in a distant land... too bad that who said those words actually referred to the rebels that general was going to crush, so the doctor can't help but wonder if he was actually praising the white-haired girl and her little insubordination. At the end, he did change since he saw him last, the Hachi he knew wouldn't do such thing, that's for sure…!

After seeing him off, the young doctor intrudes into the elevator cabin with his index finger crossing all the upper floor buttons to eventually settle on the negative floor numbers. With a little hesitation, he pushes the one that corresponds to the second subterranean floor: the button shines green, and cabin slowly starts to close. Before both metallic door frames shut together, Hisui shoots a last glance to the disappearing black-clothed silhouette with golden epaulets fading onto the stark-white bridge, just almost outside his viewing range. Suddenly, the cabin plunges with a jerk, and Hisui does the same into his own thoughts.

"Some things eventually change..."

His right hand slowly intrudes into the small shoulder bag he's carrying and reemerges holding a pistol-like device. Its body coated in shining silver, black rubber on the grip and clear glass on its tiny orange displays, the jet-injector in Hisui's hand clacks open with the flick of the thumb, ready to house the drug pellet supposed to be shot under the patient's skin. Staring at the end of the nozzle, his eyes darken and the smile he wore just seconds ago vanishes in an aggravated mumble.

"…but some others just refuse to."

...

* * *

...

After getting again inside the storage room with Kokoro and witnessing the little girl's status to the far wall behind her overprotective guardian, Ikuno takes a moment to assert what's happening between the other members of her group and the stamen.

"Back down and release the girl at once!"

"I'm not-!"

"Do what I say, otherwise-!" Futoshi growls

Just moments later, the situation turns out as not as wholesome a picture she wished from the bottom of her heart at all. Futoshi is still trying to… 'convince' his own way the reluctant parasite of letting the little pistil free, but instead of having any progress, his constant antagonizing is making matters worse by the minute.

"Get your head out of your ass! You're no authority to me, fatass!" The stamen that was called 'Yoruichi' by his little pistil barks back. Ikuno's brow jolts upwards. One thing that she's not prone to do is straight up intimidate Code 121 and have him more nervous than necessary, but that can't be really helped right now. How she's going to convince the stamen of their good intentions after the mess Futoshi is doing…?

"I'm-"

"You have no respect-!"

"Respect, respect… empty words! Every one of you should go to hell already!"

"You…! HOW DARE YOU!"

Futoshi makes to charge again towards him, but the beaming blond-haired girl by the code 376 suddenly launches herself in his path like a missile. With the shaft of her broom held in both of her arms, she intercepts the boy's chest and pins it down with her orange rubber boots sliding on the floor, she grinds him to a halt in the most primal of the moves a girl can muster under Ikuno and Kokoro's incredulous eyes.

"Ughn-uhhh!" Futoshi is completely taken aback by her intercept and his arms flail outwards in surprise as he staggers back a couple of steps, as like a wall made of steel appeared from thin air in the form of a thin-built girl and her cleaning broom.

"Don't misbehave, boyo. No violence on my watch, I said." Code 376's thrilling shout fills the room as a glare extrudes past her wavy hair towards him, trumping completely the dreamy attitude she displayed in the short time they met. With his eyes wide from surprise, Futoshi immediately relents in trying to force his way through.

"…Sorry. I was…" he slaps his forehead with a sigh, "…too eager."

Despite that admission, though, he points his finger directly at the boy across the room. "You! Remember that you took the oath!"

"What the hell? What oath are you…!"

"There's no way you can forget it! Stepping so low, you're unforgivable!" Futoshi's gaze drops to the floor, angry like his voice, but then his throat is quickly filled by sadness. "It was supposed to be different. It was our, our-our… place… in…"

Futoshi's face darkens while incapable of continuing the sentence, but its clear that his instincts are somehow throwing him into a place in his head he doesn't want to be in. Code 376, seeing his reaction, drops her combat stance and takes the broom's shaft off his chest, as it's no use of right now because she's not meeting any resistance at all. With an exaggeratedly puzzled face, her eyes bounce between Futoshi and the boy behind her, Code 121. The former was a little bothered from what Futoshi had just said, but his expression clearly conveys that he wouldn't be able to tell with simple words the reason why either. Eventually, though…

"Oh!" Code 376 suddenly jolts with a new understanding crossing her mind. "So… so you guys know each other!" she asks while bouncing her eyes between the boys at light speed with curiosity painted all over her face. "Right?"

The gazes of both boys just grind to the ground like rocks, as like her question made them completely lose their bearings. Instead of a plain-old answer, a tomb-like silence fills the room. Somehow, even if 'no' is a perfect follow-up when in doubt… at the moment, even giving the slightest hum is something very difficult for both of them. Across their visibly distraught faces lingers the feeling of being lost into an endless desert with no directions to follow, no landmarks to guide them in the path that leads for an answer in the utter desolation of their memory. That hesitation was enough for them to get stuck and delve deep further into silence, but for Ikuno though, such moment was enough for everything she wanted to say.

At the sidelines of the discussion, she and Kokoro are waiting for the waters to calm down to intervene and try her approach plan, and this involuntary pause seems the perfect moment for it to spring through… she reaches to her side, reaching for Kokoro. There's a more pressing task at hand, and she absolutely can't lose this opportunity to overturn the situation.

"Are you ready…?" Ikuno whispers as she finds her friend's delicate hand.

"Hm," the meek girl beside her asserts and clenches back her friend's slender fingers. Even if both the hum she used to respond and her hand trembles with a moderate dose of fear, her hand grasps firmly the one of Ikuno's. Her warmth, paired with her courage, manages to calm Ikuno's encroaching nervousness. If everything goes smoothly, this is going to be the turning point of the situation. Or, at least, she hopes.

Finally, Ikuno steps forward, pulling Kokoro by her hand. Futoshi, just about ready to throw more curses at the long-haired stamen across the room, halts, and freezes when the two girls pass right beside him with a decisive stride towards the deserter stamen. Even the sun-haired girl with the broom on the ready is stunned by their sudden move, "H-Huh? Where…?"

"Ikuno, Kokoro!" Futoshi yells, but the two ignore his worried voice and instead veer in a direct collision course with the duo. As Ikuno closes in further and further to them, all the fears pent up inside waver her heart, but she doesn't stop. The little girl hides under the white sheets, visibly sobbing, and the bewildered look across Code 121's face transforms into hostility once again as his shoulders stiffen in a gut reaction as the two girls stop just a couple of dangerous meters before him.

"What are you…" he asks, but as soon as Kokoro stops beside her friend, he finally notices they are holding each other's hand and his frown fizzles in disconcerted perplexity. "…gonna do?"

In trying to keep it together, Ikuno takes a slow breath, "Nothing, really."

"Nothing…? What the-"

"Look, I really didn't want to chase you all the way down here until I found out what happened inside your room. If I hadn't stumbled on it, I wouldn't have any problems with you going wherever you want to go, for whatever the reason you might have."

Code 121's eyes narrow like blades. "That's a bold lie. I wouldn't be allowed-"

"No, I'm serious… I didn't come here to chase you for anyone's sake, or hunt you down for the fact you've decided to leave service either... this is not why I'm here. I came here without the Commander's consent, accompanied by my life-long friends and teammates, just with the desire to see what kind of trouble you and your pistil had, and for a good reason.

"What we found in your room was… extremely scary. I really have never seen so much blood in one single place at once, and I was seriously worried that something very bad was happening just below my nose. Our commander asked me and my squad to be there for everyone, and I felt I had to do something… I wanted to make a difference and help others to begin our new life!"

"New life…?" Code 121's bewildering visibly aggravates in his own eyes. "What the hell are you on about?!"

"I'm on about the fact there's no one to serve anymore."

"No one to serve?" Code 121 shakes his head in hilarity. "Hehehe! Don't be kiddin' me, no one to serve…! Nice one…"

"Yeah…? Didn't you notice when staying here? Didn't you notice it's awfully quiet all the time? Did you ever wondered why there's just… no one around, outside the Spheres? No guards, no maintenance, no engineering staff, in a place supposed to be teeming with them?"

The boy looks at her silently with a meek display of distrustful curiosity.

"Where are the adults?" she asks, trying to pique his attention. He blinks once, and after a brief evaluation, he shrugs.

"'The hell would I know? Why would I supposed to kn-"

"I know though."

He blinks once more, and after a brief pause, this time the question begs itself out of his throat.

"…Where are the adults?" he finally asks.

"In the hospital's morgue," Ikuno plainly answers. The stamen's face instantly petrifies, and his eyes slowly blink countless times as a cold shower fell on top of his head.

"…Morgue?"

"Yes. Hospitals have morgues, you know. For people that don't make it."

His mouth remains open looking like a fish shoved out of the water, but eventually he snaps out of it to wear back his skeptical frown, a bit cracked this time.

"You're kidding me."

"No, everyone was killed by their own helmets. Cooked inside, more like. You know, the visors that everyone wears inside here apart from the officers and us parasites? At first, we didn't tell anyone about this to not make everyone panic, but the guys up in the hospital that assembled the emergency area back at Gran Crevasse knew before everyone did. We helped them to bring their corpses in the hospital, as the commander hid them before we got back from the battle."

"You must be joking…!"

"No, I'm not. I'd take you there, right now if you want, but you seem to be a little concerned about stepping in there… You know, you'd make even your pistil a favor, believe me."

He turns to the little one behind him, and he finally notices her white complexion dangerously blending with the white blanket she's tucked into, and sobbing away her tears into the soft cotton wrinkles.

"I know you care for her."

At that statement, he turns to Kokoro and Ikuno with his face transfigured by pure fear. "It… It's not your business…" He diverts his gaze to the side, not wanting his emotions to be seen in plain sight.

"I know how it feels, I understand what it means to care for someone," Ikuno presses on. This is exactly the place she wanted to get to from the beginning. This is her plan unfolding-!

"You also understand what it leads you holding your friend like that…?" he blurts out.

"Yes." Ikuno smiles. "Nothing."

"Are you insane?" Code 121 yells, completely aghast by their behavior.

"It's fine."

"Contact is against…! They don't want us to touch-! It's…!"

"Who?" Ikuno crosses thoroughly her fingers between Kokoro's other hand, securing her palms against hers, Then her other hand reaches to her friend opposite and ends entwined together with it. Both girls face each other, holding both hands and smiling towards him. "No one's going to force our hands apart anymore. Not anymore, ever again!"

"I…"

"Are you still doubting me?"

The boy's gaze drops to the floor, completely surprised by their inexplicable behavior. He was beginning to understand, but it was just not enough. "I… I'm…"

"Then, hear me out. I know there's a practice of taking us parasites and deleting their memories, it happened before to our squad, as well. As Kokoro hinted before, she and her stamen were taken and, some weeks later, they returned without a piece of their life back. Thing is, she and her stamen weren't even aware of it."

"Did they…?"

"Yeah, I said that before, didn't I…?" Kokoro explains. "At one point, I just saw this boy, and everyone told me he was my stamen before! I just couldn't believe them! I honestly thought he was the new member of our squad, but after talking with him, I discovered he thought that I was the newcomer instead! That didn't make any sense…!"

"That was the turning point of it all," Ikuno continues. "We saw them being kidnapped by the guards, then we saw her coming back like that… It was like they never knew each other, like they never drove a FranXX together. But they still remembered their squad, us, and we explained to her what happened that day… and what she was taken from her. Since that day, our worldview completely collapsed from beneath our feet."

"It was so… mind-breaking…" Kokoro protests, "Why Papa did that to me… what did I do to deserve that…?"

"So, you aren't denying it! Everyone each of you could have been brainwashed as well! You could be just playing in their hands for all this time and didn't know!"

"I don't think it's like you're telling me," Ikuno confidently argues. "You know why? Because if they wanted to manipulate our memories to condition and control us, then I shouldn't be _even aware_ that something wrong happened in the first place!"

Yoruichi's eyes narrow. "What do you mean?"

"After all, if you delete someone's memories, why wouldn't you delete his or her teammates' memories as well? Why would you leave the others alone? If the objective is to purely drive someone's actions by deleting their thoughts and implanting others to fill the gaps so that there's some kind of mind control going on, why wouldn't you act on the entire squad as well and ensure they don't complete each other's black spots in their memories, as we all did with her? Isn't it just… odd?"

"Well… in fact… yes."

"Also, it's not everything. I did my best to cobble it together in the time we had before coming to Bird's Nest. Now I'm sure the Adults have their… how you'd call them… _rituals_. Nothing is casual, you should know how everything works, right?" Ikuno points her finger right towards him, "I mean, how _Papa_ _'s Protocols_ work?"

"What about them?"

"What's written the Second Protocol? You should know them by heart. We all had to."

Yoruichi, after a second of recollection, recites the passage in the same reverence one would recite a holy text.

" _Form of Mind, Grace of Logic. Reason before Emotion, Perfection before Ruin. Humanity beyond Humanity._ "

"Good! Now, can you tell what's this passage refers to?"

"Reason stands for perfection, and it's antagonizing…"

"…against emotion and ruin." Ikuno picks right up where he left. "Logic is the optimal form of the thought process, and makes humanity anew, casting away its barbaric past to give us hope for a brighter future."

"So… emotion is… bad?"

"Yeah."

"…So?"

"So… that's it! Exactly, precisely it!"

"…"

"Kokoro and Mitsuru were brainwashed because… they eloped."

"Huh? Elo-what?"

"They tasted love."

"Oh? What's… «love»?" Code 121 finally asks, cautious but curious at the same time.

"Ehm…" Ikuno blushes a little. She never thought he would be this direct with his inquiries… even though for her is a normal word to say by now, she shouldn't assume everyone knows the meaning of the word «Love». In fact, it's more likely that she and Squad 13 are the only ones in the world that have used such word in a long time. It wasn't even in her vocabulary until she heard it from Zero Two and Hiro just some months ago. But shouldn't it be the easiest concept to grasp? Maybe it is, but to explain? That's another thing altogether! "Love is, most of all… an emotion. Eeeeehm…"

Is she going to botch the entire argument for this tiny detail? For patience's sake, Ikuno curses herself. Just now she had to grind her perfect moment into a halt? She _has_ to get this through, otherwise, he might not believe her and understand the situation… Well, to not hinder this high moment, she might urgently need some kind of… _inspiration._

Ikuno suddenly turns to Kokoro, still firmly attached to her hands, and looks deep in her eyes. Mere seconds pass, and Ikuno search deep into the blue irises of her friend's confused eyes.

"…I-Ikuno…?"

Kokoro fixates Ikuno's eyes behind her glasses for a brief second, but both of their gazes eventually drop off in a mist of shame.

"Doesn't work…"

"Huh…"

Ikuno leaves her friend's hands. Half-demoralized and a bit lost in embarrassment, she turns to the other two behind her still intent in observing her half-assed performance to find a slightly upset Futoshi wearing a superlatively funny face - she did just held both of Kokoro's hands in front of him, by the way - and the cleaning girl's… beautiful ocher eyes.

Code 376's eyes… so utterly beautiful. Those golden irises, of a brown so light it seemed made of shining resin, magnetized Ikuno's attention in an instant. Back in the corridors when she met them for the first time, only the gravity of the situation made her suppress her hidden desires, but now everything she pent up and compressed in her chest blasts through her body. All thanks to her wildly beating heart, waves of excitement are traversing her body accompanied by a maddening warmth and firing up her instincts with irresistible desire. Such perfect shape, the brows, their expressiveness… in a mere instant, Ikuno feels utterly devastated and awestruck. Those two windows of the soul raptured her senses the moment she met her, and there's no way that they're going to stop such effect in the foreseeable future.

Does… love at first sight exist?

This very moment, Ikuno wants to believe with every inch of herself that it does. Well… why not finding out now? What's to lose? There's plenty to lose if she wouldn't just try…

Ikuno extends her slender hand towards the blond girl.

"Could you help me?"

"A-ah?" she utters, surprised. The white-haired girl with thick glasses walks to Code 376 and stops just inside her vital space with her hands reaching towards her.

"I need you-ehm, I mean, your help…"

"Eh? Ehm…" She fidgets her broom in her hands, had been completely thrown off by Ikuno's proposal. "Wh-what're gonna do?"

"I won't hurt you, I swear!"

"Ehm…"

"Please trust me…"

"Ehhhh…! F-f-f-f-fine… Fine! Alright…"

Code 376 gives her broom to Futoshi, that without many ceremonies and slowly reaches out with her hand. Ikuno doesn't want to wait though, so she proceeds to take her hand and pull her over to the center of the room.

"Oh-!" The blond girl wails, but then follows without any hesitation the white and long-haired girl with thick glasses. As soon as they are facing each other, Ikuno takes both of her hands inside hers as she did with Kokoro. "E-ehm, we're touching…"

"Yes. Now," Ikuno whispers, "I'm going to embrace you."

"Whaaaa?! It's too-!"

"I know, but it works just like this…"

"…Works?"

"Ehm… yeah! Wait, maybe these are…" Ikuno frees her left hand for a brief second and hurriedly takes off her glasses. Then, with her free fingers she had left, she pinches the butterfly hairpin that's holding her silvery hair the back of her head and, with a twirl, detaches it in a single outward motion. Her pearl-white locks part in two, twirl free and fall on her shoulders like soft silk strands lost in the wind.

"Better!"

She put her things away in her blue uniform' side pocket. With that taken care of, she slowly takes back the girl's hand she previously left, but as soon as she gently locks it in her finger, she notices that its previously nervous stiffness suddenly disappeared. Ikuno's eyes wander up the girl's long dress to reach her previously fair cheeks tinged in peach red and, some inches above, her eyes half-hidden by her wavy, short locks intently looking at her with a mix of amazement, fear, bashfulness, and awe. At this moment, Ikuno's green irises plunge into Code 376's golden glances and reflect like infinity mirrors mixing their shining light into each other.

"Ah…" Ikuno feels utterly lost and captured whole. As interlocked in an incredibly slow dance, both girls inch forward towards each other. Ikuno didn't even register everyone's surprised howls and reactions… she doesn't care anymore about anything else other than the beautiful girl slowly coming between her arms in her funny reflector-orange cleaning dress.

"Woow-!" Kokoro covers her mouth, Futoshi's mouth hangs over, Code 121 has a brow high up in the sky and the little 723's big eyes witness the situation, a bit scared but still curious. Despite everyone being reactionary to the situation that's slowly but definitely going down, Ikuno's mind is a tangled vortex of confused arousal, and the object of her desire is coming closer and closer… very dangerously. She doesn't even want to think, because the magic of the moment would fade off. This is the moment that rationality goes out of the window and instincts kick in overdrive! The girl passes the arm behind her sweet one's back and presses her against her own body. Code 376 does the same. Finally, they are locked into an embrace and engulfed each other's warmth… inches from each other's noses.

She was supposed just to embrace her and show that physical contact is not forbidden anymore… but.

Her lips.

"I'm…"

Her. Lips.

Her lips are calling to her.

"We just… met…"

She wants them.

They're hers.

"You're…"

All hers.

Yeah, this is going bad very fast. Code 376 is completely speechless as much as Ikuno. Her cheeks are fire red and her mouth hangs open in utter amazement, and past her dress she could hear her heart beating like madness, but its tempo is matching that of her own.

"…Beautiful…" Ikuno ends the girl's phrase. No resistance is met at all, but at this point, even her sweet-half-of-the-moment agrees as to what's to come, since she's doing exactly the same with no problems at all. She wants it, too… so utterly beautiful, being loved, Ikuno agrees again. This is definitely something she wouldn't regret later. She goes slightly on her toes, their noses pass past each other, and…

Their lips softly touch.

The feeling of her lips wrapping around hers… is… just…

Eventually, their mouths start moving and caressing each other out of sync in a humid, overpowering sensation. They both don't really know how or what they're doing, but it's clear what's to obtain in this slow but exciting dance.

Pure. Ecstasy.

Their lips don't dare to part, it's like they're glued to each other. Both of them finally close their eyes and enter each other's graces, savoring the maelstrom of emotions crossing their inexperienced minds screaming for more of everything all at once. A little faster, then slower, in trying to find a rhythm, a shared cadence of the blissful dance enveloping them. Then, after a moment that seems an infinity, both girls separate from each other, out of breath. But as soon as their lungs draw oxygen for their fibrillating mind, they plunge again into each other with even more vigor. It's after another round of pleasure and forced pause dictated by their inescapable apnea that they separate and look at each other in the eyes again, to find they were crying out from the emotion, and with cheeks so funnily red they look like shining tomatoes…!

"Eh-ehehehe…!" Both girls laugh in unison.

"What… what was this…" Code 376 asks.

"Yes…?"

"Does it have a name?"

"Ah-! It's called… a kiss!"

"It was a-m-a-z-i-n-g!" the blond girl thrills. "Where did you learn this?"

"Ehm… it's…"

It was something she saw Zero Two do with Hiro, and totally something she planned to do with Ichigo… but who cares about that anymore?

"It's something I saw someone doing," Ikuno smiles out of her chest. "Isn't it beautiful? He-he!"

She feels countless feet off the ground right now! This is the most beautiful moment she ever experienced! It's real! It happened! It finally happened! Her first one, with this girl… who's this girl that made her fall to her knees the first time she saw her? She wants to know more about her, definitely-! She's Ikuno's now, she can't let her escape, no-no!

"You're Code 376, right?"

"Yes! You're I-Ikuno?"

"Yup, nice to meet you… _darling_."

"Eh…?"

"…N-nevermind." That was slightly embarrassing, but felt such a satisfying and nice ring to it, all thanks to that pink-haired girl with red horns. You set a good example, devil-girl…

Ikuno detaches slightly from the blond girl, regaining the absolute minimum space to be comfortably savoring into each other's breath, but their moronic smiles suddenly vanish the moment the girls realize that everyone was still right there and looking at them. Slowly, Ikuno swallows her saliva and looks around, ready to discover the effects of her impulsiveness.

Futoshi is… well, his expression is between total surprise and deep aghast. He just stands there with his mouth hanging open… Hello? Anyone there? His neurons left for good? On the other hand, Kokoro at least covered her face to hide her deep surprise. She's red as a pepper, batting her eyes like crazy between her fingers like trying to hide her gaze from a deeply disturbing thing, but somehow not managing to stop looking at the same time. _Oh girl, if you_ _'d just remember what you did with Mitsuru while you were stranded at Mistilteinn_ , Ikuno sideswipes in her mind…

Looking the other way, the little Code 723 is looking at us both very silently, like she'd discovered a new thing in the world. About her stamen, Code 121's brow is arched so high that almost reaches the ceiling and his discomfort is visibly morphing his face like he's become the subject of a cubist painting. Might as well continue what she was trying to say before, Ikuno thinks, since her inhibitions are flattened to the ground and it seems a lot easier to talk than before!

"Love! It's a very strong emotion, and… it's so, so beautiful! It's- It's definitely between two people! An emotion so strong, that it makes you place someone- or something before your own life, before everything. Something exciting that makes you act irrationally, and… recklessly! Your whole world… becomes that person… and mostly, you wish that person to love you, too! It's like a pair of wings has grown on your back! A ground-breaking feeling- you want to be one with the other, in the most intimate way possible… and… be accepted…"

"What in the… Wh-wh-wh-what the hell was that!?" he yells, "What y-y-you! That's…!"

He's completely losing it. Yeah, she went a little overboard, but jeez… why is everyone breaking down like that? Isn't it normal to feel-

"T-t-t-that's absolutely illegal!"

Ah, yes, _that_ would be the problem.

"You're INSANE! You're both going to be arrested, what's floating in your brains! You're going to be-"

"We're going to be fine," Ikuno plainly states.

"What!? No!…"

"I told you before, there's no one in the whole Nest that will stop us, not anymore."

Code 121 confused gaze bounces between everyone in front of him, like a gigantic revelation finally fell onto his head with the brunt of all its implications. "…That can't be true…"

"Oh, come on! Just get a hint, will ya!" Code 376 detaches from Ikuno's embrace, visibly irritated, "Everyone knows it, everyone's at the Spheres is on the same page! Everyone knows there's no one here apart from the commander and us, so quit being that thick-headed and understand already-!"

"Everyone…?"

"Yeah…? Wait, are you serious? You didn't notice? Where did ya live up until now…?"

"Eh…" Code 121's awkwardness is palpable as he opens his arms wide outward. Ikuno almost mistakes that gesture as like shrugging off his ignorance, but he's _actually_ showing them where he lived up until now. She focuses on the random stuff all around him, and… among the stashed work tables and confusion, at closer examination, there's more to the eye than a cursory glance can ever convey, a somewhat light sense of _order_ among all. All the roller chairs lying around against the tables have their synthetic cushions ripped off and organized on a pile in the corner like a comfort area. Beside it, various clothes stacked onto each other, a computer case acting as a trashcan, a table with still healthy chairs acting as a dining area. Ikuno notices something under one of said workshop tables, and something like a white mattress pops up on her vision… no, it's more like a gathering of said chair cushions enclosed by a blanket like a makeshift bed. No, two for being exact… the other one is under the now smiling little girl.

Kokoro winces, "That's why you've ordered so many things these days…! You wanted to…"

Code 121 didn't come here to escape from something he did or anything of the sort, he didn't do anything wrong or strange, this place was most likely planned from the start. This parasite couple just wanted to disappear from everyone else and live on their own, down here, to avoid anything that might hurt them and break them apart. Ikuno didn't know anything about the fear, the hopelessness, the solitude that _they_ felt, but now she does.

When she accepted Hachi's request to be some impromptu police in order to keep an eye on all the parasites in the Spheres, she didn't know or had any association to the people she was supposed to watch over, and she never would have anticipated how bad the situation among them really is. And with just a glance past the veil of her inexperience, who would have thought that there was so much hiding behind it? Ikuno thought that maybe she knew just a little bit of the world outside with the telling of the countless stacks of books she read in her life, but she was utterly wrong. It was like experiencing life at a distance, filtered like the window's sunlight through a paperback inked in black letters.

In the end, the reality revealed itself through the countless downcast glances of the other parasites.

"By the way, I don't know about what you think about it, but I'd bet that you're feeling about your pistil something akin to «love»." Ikuno duly notes.

"WHA-WHAT!" Code 121's face suddenly lights up as he just touched boiling water, "SHE'S LIKE…! W-W-Why would I think about her like that, are you dumb!? W-with the «kiss», and the stuff about «be one together» and «most intimate possible»? Geez, that's sickening, she's just a kid!"

Ikuno's just stepped on an awkward landmine. "Oh, no! I-I mean, not with kisses and all that stuff! I meant that you want to stay with her and protect her with your life, don't you? That's also to «love»!"

Code 121's eyes light up with something else than rage, something more… gentle and tame.

"It's… It's not like I don't want to protect her…" he bashfully says.

"Yes, I see that. You're here because of those feelings, aren't you?"

"Mh-hm, yeah. It might be possible…" he pouts.

The boy turns to the little girl. As soon as their gazes cross, the little girl shoots him a warm smile and yells to him "Yoruichi!"

Kokoro softly laughs. "She calls you 'Yoruichi'? That's really cute!"

"That-! That's just her way to speak! She always says my code wrong-!"

The little girl comes out from her alcove made of covers and shoots her arms up towards her stamen and yells, "YORUICHI! KISS!"

"Agh-sh-shut up, kid… What are you asking… geez!" The boy named by his pistil Yoruichi is visibly irritated by her request and crosses his arms in staunch denial. The little girl's smile switches into a somewhat angry pout, the long-haired boy notices it, and after a soft sigh, the boy corrects his aim. "Grow up, first."

"Yes!" the little girl's smile instantly comes back!

Ikuno softly laughs, then continues. "Don't you have a squad?"

"…No. They were gone a long time ago."

"Really? I'm sorry… But someone else? Anyone…?"

Code 121 shakes his head. "I was alone. Up until Gran Crevasse, at least. Now all I have is her."

"I see." Ikuno perfectly acknowledges his eyes full of determination. Detaching from Code 376 while still holding her hand, she stands before him with an expression denoting nothing less than respect.

So much revealed in such a short amount of time. The reason why everyone in the Spheres acted so distrusting, reserved and untalkative towards everyone else was lingering right in front of her eyes for a week straight, and she never noticed. Or maybe, infuriatingly enough, it's that she just couldn't see it. And, up until minutes ago, she didn't even fathom why this parasite couple had been behaving like to the point of endangering their well-being… but now it seems painfully obvious from where such desire comes from.

Being treated like objects is one of the reasons. Brainwashing, denying a sense of self, oppressing the unwilling, removing the unfit, are many others. Each parasite is driven to the brink of their mental and physical capacity, then thrown away like used playthings when not useful anymore. It's no enigma that such kind of self-awareness would break anyone in pieces, and this whole situation is linked to the desperate need to escape from such hell, most probably. Probably? No, most certainly.

"I wanted to protect her, at all costs."

Ikuno is convinced fully well that quitting is not something that Papa would allow, so they resorted to some kind of plan to secretly detach from everyone without causing unwanted attention aided by the confusing moments after the second battle of Gran Crevasse. Due to Ikuno's insight and intervention, though, the plan ultimately failed. It must have been such a cold shower for them the moment her group opened that service door… Code 121's hostility would be fully explained. And could be explained even more, if his Pistil is injured and can't really drive… that would have meant that she would be torn off from him and replaced with another pistil, to never see her again. _They are hunting me, so they must be an enemy,_ he might have thought.

But they're not enemies! It's Ikuno's turn to gather those pieces and connect the puzzle of this absolute mess of a situation that the Adults and Papa created. Even while having such small knowledge of their situation, she had the answers that they needed, the much-needed words that those poor souls were looking after witnessing such a bleak future looming towards them. They needed a future! Something to look after in order to be able to go forward… just anything that's not the nightmare that the very people they brought them up wished for them, with gifting them a war machine for their fifteenth birthday! Ikuno just wants a destiny denied to her since birth!

From when she was a child, she was told she was destined to be someone that created a future for humanity. But now, at this point, she doesn't care about what those faceless adults wanted from her. Now, the future that she wants to create is the one that she desired all along, the one that everyone deserved! It's on her honor as a parasite to ensure that everything will be fine from now on. He doesn't know her own experience and the hatred she developed for the adults and Papa, so she must definitely tell him! Now, right now, they need to know that they don't need to escape to have their own lives just for themselves... They desperately need to know they are finally masters of their own destinies!

Although, there's a little problem. The little girl's situation. Ikuno can understand that the distrust he has for anyone else is ultimately founded and grounded in reality, but it's a real double-edged sword. That distrust is the ultimate thing that's going to hurt the object of his own love if someone doesn't wake him up to the current situation. That's the ultimate obstacle to clear before the situation can be regarded as saved, and it's better to bring the fact of his pistil's health to him before anything worse happens.

"I understand. But... there's a problem."

"What about it?"

"Your pistil has something that should be of your attention," Ikuno says while passing her fingers between her white hair. "She is ill."

"Yeah. She has this horrible cough, and… sometimes some blood comes out. And she has some… talking problems. The caretakers told me the cough is normal, that's just a problem with her throat, and she has these fits… they told me it's like a slightly worse version of the parasite flu and it's going to be better over time…"

"About that, I think that they were wrong," Ikuno's expression aggravates. "I'm afraid it's not just some parasite flu…"

The parasite flu is one the lesser illness a parasite can get while on service. Although is similar to a viral illness that was very common in the old world, no one really knows how it happens or how you get it. It just comes and goes, with fever, muscle weakness and dizziness… a far cry from what the little pistil is actually experiencing.

"…It's a life-threatening syndrome that's going to worsen over time. It's something related to her being made a pistil earlier than normal."

"What…?" Yoruichi's legs shudder at the mere thought. "Who… who told you that!"

"The… the head doctor at the Tower's hospital."

Yoruichi's stops in his tracks. Then, a grin paints his face.

"Ehe… ehehe…"

And slowly…

"Hehehehe-eee-ehhehehehe!"

A maddening laugh resounds from his throat.

"AAHAHAHAHHAHAHA-!"

The group stands on edge as the boy laughs out of his belly like he's completely lost his reason.

"Hahahahahahahaha… I see, I see! They knew all along! That's so… so "

"…What? Who?"

"The doctors! Who else?"

"Ah? What do you mea-"

" **IT** **'S ALL THEIR FAULT!** " Yoruichi yells on top of his lungs, and his thunderous voice quakes the floor and the walls of the workshop, and everyone standing before him has their chest shaken as like a shockwave hit them head-on. And for good measure, because Yoruichi's eyes turned into the ones of a demon's.

" **They killed my squad! They took them in, injured like heroes, and the doctors fucked them up like they pleased! They were supposed to save them, and instead, THEY KILLED THEM ALL!** **"**

A scared Ikuno fully experiences the first time in her life and at the very front seat nonetheless, the effects of bottled rage when left unbridled to express itself.

" **IT WAS THEIR DOING! THEY ARE MONSTERS!** "

The walls quake once again to his ill-charged voice.

"If you are thinking… that I'd just leave… my precious Natsumi in their care… you'd be mighty wrong." Yoruichi comes closer to Ikuno and Code 376, but both scuttle back like a molten object was advancing on them."Don't ever talk in front of me about those... people? No… they don't qualify as such. **They are the ones who stand in as absolute evil.** **"**

"W-ha-t…"

"The world doesn't need them! The moment one of _those_ comes even close at arm's length to me, I'd kill them without hesitation or remorse! If there's someone that deserved to die, that's them, not my teammates!"

This time, instead of a controlled hostility, his eyes reflect the absolute rage that only a soul deeply marked by the fire of hatred can show.

"Are you… absolutely sure… that…"

"They were treated worse than beasts. They tortured them until my friends stopped yelling! **AND THEY KEPT WATCHING!** "

Ikuno's eyes, in turn, fill with distilled panic. "No-!"

"Yes! Without the shadow of a doubt, they are pure evil! They misuse their knowledge for unspeakable things, they treated their bodies like playthings! If you just think that there can be any peace with them at the helm, responsible for us all… **then you** **'re ALL WRONG!"**

So… this. _This_ is the real problem. This is the reason for all of this…

"I actually believe you… Ikuno. You're no fake to me, you're a pistil deserving respect for your beliefs and for what you want to achieve, but _our_ future… the one for me and my pistil… doesn't belong with them."

This grudge.

It's Ikuno's time to feel a cold shower now.

"Is it… really true?"

"Yes. I swear on my squad's memory."

Ikuno takes an actual second before her own memory of one year ago pops up in her mind, from when she began her FranXX service at her Plantation, Cerasus. Before Zero Two entered the team as a transfer pilot, there was another girl in the team, Hiro's original pistil. A girl with wavy chestnut hair, a strong attitude and always ready to give you an ear or a shoulder whenever you needed. One fated day, she disappeared. She can't possibly be…

"I… I had a friend that was also my squad-mate… Her nickname was Naomi. She got injured in a transport pod next to our plantation… and she was hospitalized."

"Did you ever see her again?" Yoruichi asks.

"…No."

"Then, your friend was put at their mercy."

Ikuno's expression is painted with sudden incredulity. After all this time having in the back of her mind the fate of her friend and learning this horrible reality… the girl whom she passed a lot of time with when she was young…

"Now you know what happens to who ends out of service for a reason or another."

"I… I…" Her hands suddenly shudder and then, like a tree breaking from his own weight, Ikuno's legs stop to function.

"Ikuno…!" Both Code 376 and Kokoro hurry to catch her from falling straight on her knees, just centimeters from touching the ground with the help of Futoshi's reflexes. He grabs Ikuno's sides and helps the other girls with stabilizing the desperate white-haired girl sitting onto the floor. While covering her mouth, her eyes dot with tears.

"Naomi…" Ikuno mumbles, in covering her mouth from showing her own emotions.

"I'm very sorry."

"I thought that… I thought that…!" Futoshi cries out incredulous.

"If she ended up in their maws, most probably…"

"No…!"

"N-Noemi…" Kokoro mutters with a broken voice, and Futoshi silently grabs both girls in a teddy-bear embrace, with Code 376's hand caressing both heads to give a little comfort herself.

"Deep down, I wanted her to be happy… wherever she might have gone…" Futoshi says with his voice struck by agony.

"I'm sorry…" Yoruichi, looking now at Ikuno's pained reaction, is struck with deep regret for the news he just delivered, but the picture of the trio while huddling together to soften the blow of acknowledging their teammates' demise is such a healing vision that no mourning is enough to overshadow it. A strangely soothing and warming feeling takes lodge into his heart… but the moment is rapidly interrupted by a sudden movement, caught with the far tail of his right eye. A white blur with chestnut hair barely clearing a meter off the ground comes trotting towards the three.

"I'm sowwy!" The little girl, in her long white nightdress, has just come out from her alcove made of covers to charge the trio with open arms to join them. Both Kokoro and Ikuno, caught by surprise by her small arms enveloping them, welcome the little girl's smile like a ray of light cutting the thick black clouds in a droopy sky.

"Thank you!" Ikuno smiles to her, then proceeds to pat her head… but on the other side of the room, his stamen's expression petrifies in fear.

"Ah-! Natsumi! No, don't!"

In a span of a literal moment, the long-haired stamen dashes towards the group and tears with force the little girl from them, like she just hugged a pile of burning firewood and didn't realize. "No! What are you doing, you can't!" He picks her up by her legs and runs to back to her alcove in a maddening hurry.

"B-But I wanted to hug…!" The little girl, still offering her arms towards Ikuno, is placed back in the covers and forcefully wrapped back into the bed. Yoruichi grabs gently her cheeks with both hands to get her full attention and make her look inside his eyes.

"No, Natsumi, no! They're going to take you away! They're going to bring you to _them!_ They're going to hurt you!" Yoruichi tells her with the most terrorized but softest voice everyone ever heard from him. It was almost like the long-haired boy that was talking to Ikuno just seconds ago switched with his good but scared twin without anyone noticing.

"I'm… I'm…" The little girl is almost crying herself out because of her stamen's violent reaction. As soon as she starts to sob and her eyes to moisten, the still-immensely scared boy hesitates at first, then hugs the girl he calls Natsumi right against his chest and lulls her between his arms.

"Natsumi, I'm sorry! But, I'm doing this for you…!"

"But, she's… she's the butterfly…!"

"She might be, but she's working with _them_! They are _bad_! Natsumi, please, don't do that again! Please, don't I don't want to lose you, please, please, please, please…!" His voice breaks further and further like he's experiencing the most painful of trials, being forced to watch in his mind the little girl being tortured like his former teammates were.

"Uhhh… Yoru…"

Seconds pass. Ikuno, Kokoro, Futoshi and Code 376's attention is now completely captured by the parasite couple at the end of the room. A negative silence permeates the room, erratically broken the sobbing of the little girl muffled by her carer's chest intruding violently in everyone's ears. Slowly, after having calmed down his most precious treasure, Yoruichi's head turns towards the group.

"They will have her..."

In his look lies pure, irrational instinct. A fear bigger than any lingers all over his face, his showing teeth shaking in terror, his two eyes widened by fright mixed with a shade of violence that can only blossom when one's mind is put to the extreme test.

The look of maddening, deep desperation.

"…Over my corpse."

Having said so, he slowly turns back to the embrace with her pistil and places his cheek onto her head, holding silently her small pistil to reassure her of his presence and to make her forget the awful world that he knows it's out there.

Sitting on the ground as lost as she was when she started this conversation, Ikuno feels in complete disarray. She just can't think anymore. Her head is a mess. She got out everything she could muster, she tried everything she could think of, she pushed herself to the limit, she did everything she could try to bring that boy, Code 121, Yoruichi, to the side of understanding. She cried, felt, argued, quarreled, pleaded… and everything in-between, to lead him on the side of compromise, but… this may be it. This may be, by the matter of fact, the high ceiling of what she can do at this very moment. This situation surpassed her expectations even further from what she would call possible.

This stamen…

In Ikuno's perception, Yoruichi did nothing wrong.

In his stead, she would totally act as he did. If someone would threaten her most valued person's life, the person she'd care most, she would break her bonds, as violently as it requires, as alienating it might be, grab their hand in hers and escape… far, very far, until the breath or endurance of both allowed to never return, to never look back. She would cast everyone else behind, abandon her former life and connections to the point of even casting away her own name. Then, take on another... one that would represent the bond that she would share with such love. Then, with time and patience, create a world tailored for both, made for them at the center, and them alone. To live on forever, with their lives in the loving arms of the other.

A world where everyone understands each other, where every need is satisfied. Isn't it similar to the one she had in mind for… how much? Too much time at this point.

The difference is, she pictured a world with many people understanding each other, not just two. In such a world, she believed that everyone would be accepted by the other. In such a world, even Ikuno would feel wanted and understood. But in this horrifying reality, where everything is opposite of what it's meant to be, was Ikuno just being made of massive levels of naive in thinking it was possible to create? Was all of this trying and trying worth the effort? Is it impossible, or… if she would just try again… would she manage to succeed next time? How many tries would it take? In a perfect world… it would take a moment. But…

This is not a perfect world.

Ikuno feels her shoulder being grabbed, and she comes out from her thoughts to find a Futoshi still holding onto a downcast Kokoro and her. He was looking straight in her eyes. His look, a mixture of regret and foreboding, carried more meaning than any simple word is capable to convey.

 _You_ _'ve done everything you could._

Ikuno sadly nods. In the end, all that matters is that she failed in her battle. She understands what's going to happen next, what she had striven so much to avoid, but now it's the default option. _The other way_ is the only option available now. The only hope is that, at least, the little Natsumi will be ultimately saved and get well in the future, the only silver lining left of this slow-motion disaster. Or… will she?

After all that was told, after everything Yoruichi told them, she's incredibly uneasy at leaving her in the care of Code 013 and the medical team, but nonetheless, she trusts that strange stamen that doesn't look like a stamen, the doctor that doesn't look like a doctor. That's all she can do now.

It's with a meek expression that Futoshi grabs both Kokoro and the snow-white haired girl's shoulders in an embrace without any foreboding.

"Futoshi?"

"What's up, Futoshi?"

"Oi…"

"Shhh…" he whispers in his teeth and gestures Code 376 to intrude inside the group embrace. She promptly does so, but with coming closer from Ikuno's face, she becomes inadvertently magnetized by her lips, rendering her at first incapable to focus on the conversation. Her face turns steaming red like an overcooked water boiler!

"Is it true that the girl is very ill?" Futoshi asks in a very veiled whisper.

It was at that point that Ikuno and Kokoro understood that they might want to lower their tone as well. He's not gathering all the girls in the room to feel a baller like a certain 'Zorome' someone would do, but it's because he's calling for a quick meeting on the spot. Mighty shrewd, she would say, because his broad figure is for sure a good visual cover from Yoruichi eyes, while he's still occupied in lulling his most precious between his arms.

"Yes…?"

"Who told you?"

"Code 013… ah, yes, he called me when you were not looking. He said that she needs medical care immediately because of her illness, and that she can't wait any longer. He mentioned hours apart from being not curable anymore. He told me that he would come back here, with more people…"

"Reinforcements, I see! In how much?"

"Fifteen."

"Since when…?"

Ikuno hesitates, then gets her communicator out and sees that the call was more than twenty minutes ago.

"He's late…!"

"Huh-uh…

Then, a strange sound grabs everyone's attention.

"Coof…!"

A muffled cough comes from behind the group.

"Cough… Cough!"

Everyone turns. It was the little girl coughing against his stamen's chest. That wouldn't be a thing to be worried about… only if that was your run-of-the-mill cough. Instead, the sound of her lungs was like they were trying to expel something liquid, but they couldn't.

"Natsumi…!"

"Yoru… Cough!… I feel it's coming back! Cough, Cough!"

Yoruichi startles. The little girl painfully cringes and holds her chest at each cough like she's getting stabbed over and over, and she can't control it. Soon enough, tears begin to race down her cheeks, now whiter than ever before.

"Natsumi, hold onto me…!"

She does, and in a blink of an eye, she suddenly winces. The uncontrollable spasms of her chests, as she continues to cough, sound more and more like her lungs are being filled with water.

"Cough!, Cough!, my chest hurts…! COUGH!"

The stamen hurries to gather the white sheets the girl is wrapped with to make a ball out of it, and proceeds to place it beneath the girl.

"Cough… Cough… Cough…! Cough-!"

The girl's chest continues to shudder, until…

"Ch-gah! Gahh! Guhh!"

Until she vomits a mix of water and blood onto the covers, one, two, three times… until the white cotton tinges deep red from the stark white it was just seconds ago.

"Hiii!" Kokoro yelps.

"Oh…!" Futoshi's face whitens, like everyone around him. Code 376 clenches her broom so hard that begins to shake. Ikuno's delicate hands start to spasm like the girl's shoulders, rocked by a pain greater than could be managed by a little mind. Her lips were tinged red… blood red.

"Ch…ghach! Coof! Cough!"

Under everyone's silent and horrified stare, the girl continues to cough out her bowels onto her bed, until the fits get rarer and rarer, and the unholy hacks stop tearing everyone's heart apart. In a minute or so, as the little girl's crisis ends on its own for good. Yoruichi then takes a limb of the blanket and wipes her lips off the remaining blood on her lips, then crumples the covers to prevent the contents to spill out and throw it back to the side, out of the way, next some black trash sacks. After being done, the boy goes back in hugging the girl, although each of her breath meant like sharp knives stabbing endlessly her back.

The way that the stamen reacted, how he seemed that it was the most menial thing in the world… Ikuno's soul shudders, then an indescribable rage takes lodge inside her chest. Was he instructed to do this from the caretakers? Or is this something he learned to do on its own? Did theyknow the little girl's condition? Did they just decide to shove her into service and throwing her onto a battlefield thinking she was just a disposable body _?_ Did they _actually_ do that? How could they just divert their eyes from her…! She's not fit for service, why would they just shove her into a FranXX like this…!

Ikuno turns back to everyone, to find her companions' serious looks addressing her.

"I'm…"

Ikuno has such a whirlwind of emotions inside her that no words dare to escape her mouth, so even the others are the same. She exchanges a significant glance with Futoshi, and once again, he conveys his thoughts by the means of a seething scowl written all over his face.

 _Your way didn_ _'t work._

 _Now, there_ _'s the other way._

The other way. The one Ikuno didn't want to take… but now, after witnessing this, _the necessary way_. The girl is really on her death's door. The stamen, the one that protected her until now, is blinded by his past and doesn't want to bring her to get cured. If someone doesn't do something right now… there won't be no going back.

Ikuno has learned so much from this stamen in this conversation… the boy made her open her eyes towards the world that was around her to all things she didn't know or refused for so long to know. For that very important thing, gratitude can't be enough. But… she already made up her mind. She decided the outcome of this long before this moment… when she decided she would trust Code 013. _The other way_ is the natural evolution of such a decision, the next logical step to make. What she previously thought of Yoruichi and Natsumi sounded very beautifully romantic… fleeing from everyone, starting over, finding happiness…

Like this horrible world would allow that.

That story sounds like coming out of a fable book, Ikuno shakes her head. It's just a wish-fulfilling fantasy that can lull you to sleep and make you dream beautiful things, but it still doesn't hold a candle to anything that is grounded in reality. Abandon everyone, and the next thing you'll know is distrust, refusal and the bitter pain of isolation. And then, where would you flee? Where would you go? Where would you find happiness out there, where endless deserts span to the eye's end? Is that really called happiness? Is happiness just supposed to be found inside the jaws of klaxxosaur? That's so stupid! Ikuno judges this fantasy as completely illogical, bold and irrational, but nonetheless…

…Isn't this what love actually means?

"I know," Ikuno nods to Futoshi. Yes, Ikuno perfectly knows. "We can't wait for Code 013 and his merry group of white coats anymore. They have to take things into their own hands before the girl gets any worse than she already is."

"We need to take responsibility, for a better future."

Such phrase leaves a sudden harsh taste in her mouth, but…

"We need to act now."

Futoshi, Kokoro and Code 367 nod in unison.

"We've gotta prepare, then," Futoshi whispers, as his hand goes to his leg pocket. "Kokoro, listen here..."

"Huh…?" The soft girl with ashen-blond hair looks meekly at Futoshi, a bit over-conscious by his arm wrapping around her shoulders.

"I don't know how everything will go from now on, but… I can trust your aim."

"Pardon…? H-Huh?" Something hard is pushing against her ribcage. She looks down to find something made of black vulcanized rubber… a rubber pistol grip that shapes out in a keen and mirror-shining anodized metal body. What is now offered to her is the same one that the burly boy extracted from the security station just around the door of this place. That thing looks awfully like a handgun.

"I want you to be ready."

"Futoshi-!" Ikuno protests, "Is that… a firearm!"

"Shhh-don't be loud!"

Without any ado, he shoves the weapon into Kokoro's hands. The feeling of rubber against her fingertips made her blink a bunch, and even more when Futoshi starts to guide her fingers in an attempt to explain to her how it works. "This is a stun gun. Pull this side lever, align the sights with the target, then… pull the trigger. Just like you do with Genista!"

"But… but… are you sure I… I can…" The meek girl wavers, her reaction being all but positive. At the simple thought of the power of the thing she's holding in her hand Kokoro feels very uneasy, but soon enough that sensation quickly disappears. The grip feels exactly as when she's wielding Rook Sparrow, Genista's main artillery rifle, only with significantly less weight and bulk.

"This feels… familiar," Kokoro tentatively says while lightening up her expression a bit.

"Ah, beautiful Kokoro…!" Futoshi giggles.

"Oh come on…!" Ikuno is just about fuming because of how a drooling idiot Futoshi is.

"You _do_ have a good aim! Just don't fire it while he's in contact with someone else, or you could zap them also. Electricity doesn't discriminate good from bad!"

I could be just Ikuno's imagination, but she's positive that Futoshi is talking about the little girl and the possibility that Yoruichi might be still attached to her when the gun had its effect on him.

"Uhm… But… he's a parasite like us…"

"Just… just imagine he's a klaxxosaur!" Code 376 incites Kokoro. At that statement, countless exclamation marks pop into Ikuno's head.

"C-code 376…!"

"I know, but… if it makes you feel better…"

"Hm…" Futoshi meekly agrees.

Somehow, that sentence stirs Ikuno's insides. She believes that no parasite would ever dare to hurt someone else with their own hands, but there's a problem with that belief. Every parasite is grown up in a place where violence is the main part of their daily occurrence and an unmovable landmark of what their duty is actually about. For a good part of their life, they have studied and prepared to drive a machine that subconsciously follows every thought of its drivers and interfaces directly to their minds to be able to use extremely lethal weaponry in the most natural way possible - a FranXX, a war machine so complex and powerful to be capable of leveling entire mountains with just a fraction of its output. So, one thing, in particular, stands correct. Even if they never actually experienced it in person… their minds do remember the sweet and inebriating feeling of violence.

"I'm ready to go whenever you want," Code 376 tells to Ikuno.

"Same," Futoshi does the same.

"Um… I guess it's time…" Kokoro says while passing her fingers on the stun gun's mirror-like finish.

Ikuno's gaze lingers. She feels like she's about to cross a terrible threshold. A daunting feeling, but this is the only way forward. Eventually, she nods.

"Let's go."

At her signal, all three of them get up from where they were crouched and face the couple on the other side of the room. With absolute silence and seriousness, the group locks in the stamen still hugging his softly crying pistil and still unaware of his fate and, slowly and silently, surrounds the boy while preparing the same type of encirclement they used to do while on the field of battle against the enemies of humanity, the klaxxosaurs. The formation has an empty spot… Ikuno's. She gets up from the ground and walks in, intending to fill her role to the fullest.

Futoshi readies his fists, Code 376 wields firmly the shaft of her broom and Kokoro points the gun forward, assuming the firing stance she'd learned with countless hours of driving experience. At this moment, you wouldn't think Kokoro to be these levels of professional, being the insecure girl she normally is, but it's somewhat expected of her. After all, this is everyone's element, what they trained for all their lives for, their _raison d_ _'etre_ in this world that solely depended on their sacrifice.

Battle.

The group slowly advances on the couple like predators encircling their prey, and then… Yoruichi's eye corner finally notices. In turning around, his dismay is painted all over his face. His muscles tense up and his mouth slowly comes open at the sight of him being surrounded by four people at once in combat stance, wielding weapons.

"You…" could be heard in a whisper from his throat.

"After all we've seen, we can't let this go," Ikuno announces. "I'm sorry, but… for the best for your pistil, this is the end."

The boy, instead of talking back to them, turns back to the wall. The four of them keep inching forward, ready for any sudden movement of the long-haired boy. Slowly and carefully, they eventually get only half-a-dozen meters from his back… but he keeps hugging the little girl, immobile.

"Natsumi… we might have to go sooner…"

Ikuno's ears catch that whisper, so she gives a glances at their teammates that nod in unison.

"Don't try anything funny!" Futoshi barks at him.

"I'm… I'm very sorry," says Yoruichi in a strange tone, his right arm suddenly reaching for something besides the girl's bed.

"HEY! What's in your hand! Show it!"

"Sure…"

He glances towards them, and what Ikuno finds in his eyes… is pure anger.

"Catch."

He backhand-throws something at Kokoro, something looking like… a ball.

«Tick», «Tick», «Tick», «Tick»…

"Uh…?"

A round, LED-shining ball the size of a palm, rolling towards her ankles.

Futoshi's face morphs in extreme fear.

"GRENADE!" he shouts on top of his lungs.

In a split second, he breaks formation and charges Kokoro with a speed he's never shown himself to have. "GET DOWN, GET DOWN!" He dashes to her, kicks the ball at her feet towards the other room and grapples the girl's shoulders to drag her down to the ground with him.

"Waah-!"

Instinctively, Ikuno and Code 367 do the same. As soon as everyone sprawl onto the ground and cover their heads, a sharp and eardrum-popping explosion follows…

«BAM-FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!»

Ikuno yelps as her ears start ringing. She peeks at the strange fizzle that followed the bang, to witness that the ball was rotating wildly in circular motions on the floor, completely on its own. Powerful jets of thick, white smoke are blasting away from its insides, making it spin everywhere in the room. In the bat of an eye, the back workshop is filled with unbreathable air and nothing can be seen inches from their noses.

"Cough! Cough!" Code 367 covers her mouth and starts breathing from inside her cleaning uniform.

"Don't breathe it…!" Futoshi desperately yells from inside the smoke.

Among the general confusion, Ikuno hears rapid running footsteps crossing the room somewhere inside the impenetrable smog.

"He's escaping-! Everyone! Get out of here," the girl yells to her companions, trying to also preserve some oxygen in her lungs. Ikuno rapidly gets up and, while orienting herself purely by memory, she manages to get inside the front workshop with their holograms shining brighter than before thanks to the small particles of fog starting to slowly filling the room. Being the first to get out from it, she manages to catch a glimpse of Yoruichi dashing out of the door with the little girl wrapped in covers onto his back.

"Stop-!" She dashes after him, and almost trip onto a roller chair. She shoves it aside abruptly, "Out of my way-!"

Back into the glass-domed control station with countless of terminals giving full view to the vast FranXX maintenance chamber, Ikuno can spot the boy running on the catwalks linked to the door to the side of the room, following along the humongous metal walls towards an open-access lift installed onto the most distant left corner. As soon as she reaches the correct door, she fumbles a little with the door control panel to jump out on the rafters to give chase.

"STOP! You're going to kill her!" Ikuno shouts at the boy, running the faster she can manage- but the boy already reached the open glass lift. As an answer, he triggers the cabin controls and metal bars close the now-vacant elevator access door. Beaming her a contemptuous glare, Yoruichi starts the descent towards the base of the humongous workshop with the scared Natsumi grappled on his shoulders.

"Uugh…!" Ikuno's dash suddenly collapses. Her body gives up mid-run and forces her to a ruinous slide on her knees as her breath goes out of control and her head starts to spin vigorously. "Haah… haah… What… Oww…"

"I-Ikuno?" Reacting slowly to voice behind her, the white-haired girl almost doesn't recognize Code 376's metal-sounding running footsteps coming towards her. "Are you OK? Ikuno? Did he hurt you!"

"N-No… my body… is… just weak…"

The girl picks up the confused Ikuno from the floor and cradles her in her arms while frantically looking inside her eyes to assert she's conscious and well. Slowly, Ikuno's vision stops being blurred and allows her to focus the other girl's extremely worried face.

"Hang in there, I'm gonna smash that guy's head open!"

"3-367… Don't…" Maybe out of her dizziness, Ikuno's hand inexplicably reaches caresses onto the girl's blond and wavy hair to calm her spirits.

"Ah-!" Code 367 instantly blushes at her gesture.

"Aw… s-sorry… it-it was just a reflex…"

"Oh, no, no! Don't worry, I love it!" She smiles with a thousand's suns power.

"Ah-aha…" Ikuno nervously giggles.

"IKUNO, 376!" A male shout could be heard from the glassed command station. That voice is Futoshi's. "WHERE DID HE GO!"

"HE WENT DOWN!" Code 367 yells back to him, pointing to the lift going down.

"DARN!" Futoshi curses, and turns back to Kokoro, still holding to her stun gun and dryly coughing to get rid of the smoke dust she inhaled back at the workshop. "We need to give chase!"

"Cough…! Ahn… where are they going…?"

"…I think I know, Kokoro! Come, follow me!"

Without any warning, he takes Kokoro's hand in his and leads her back outside the same broken door they came in the first time, then dashes along the catwalk to reach for the exit. Opening the door, both parasites are jump-startled as a statuesque figure, taller and bigger than them, barred his way like a guardian.

"C-Commander!" Futoshi startles.

It's Hachi, entering the FranXX workshop area, and almost being ran him over by Futoshi and Kokoro after the sliding doors suddenly opened.

"Code 224, what's happening…?" he asks the boy while caught by surprise. He scans both of them, and his tone suddenly cracks while pointing at the stun gun she's wielding. "OH! Code 556! Where did you find that-!"

Like a deer in headlights, the girl freezes in a panic due to the commander's loudly bass and upset voice. "U-Uh! Commander Hachi…!"

"It was my initiative, commander! I'll assume full responsibility!" Futoshi promptly saves her from his chastising tone.

Hachi squares Futoshi up in the little dismay he can express. "Where did you get it?"

"From the security station, officer, where else?" the boy plainly says back to him.

"Wh-?" Hachi's voice tinges deeper and deeper with distress. "Are you serious?"

"Yessir! And commander, in the end, we failed at negotiating with Code 121, he has a terminal prejudice against the System and has abducted his pistil using restricted equipment! He just now managed to broke off our perimeter and fled towards the FranXX cages! We need to go after him, otherwise, the general alarm may escalate!"

Hachi looks straight in his eyes, coldly calculating. "…Where did you learn that lingo?"

"Huh…? Ah-! Ow, geez…!" Futoshi blinks, as a sharp fit envelope his head, but he shakes off the pain and powers through the daze with his willpower alone. "Commander…! We need to act now and quickly-! Ow…"

Hachi squares Futoshi with his most concerned look, and a sudden hint of understanding crosses his mind, "I see. Code 224, don't mind that question, I need you lucid and prepared. Code 556, remember to re-engage the safety. Both of you, follow me. If he's escaping to the FranXX cages, we're about to be in a bind."

Hachi turns to the same way he came in and quickly descends the set of stairs giving to the Inner Ring. The two falter a little, but the mature voice of their commander urges them. "Come!"

Futoshi and Kokoro look at each other, then back at Hachi. After Kokoro engages the gun's safety as instructed, they run after their commander rapidly descending towards the center of the Nest. As soon as the sign says they've managed to reach the end of the engineering section, the set of stairs ends abruptly to a couple of double sliding doors back to the endless inner Ring corridor that they previously left behind themselves. Hachi stops just outside the last door and looks up, with the two parasites curiously observing him, and addresses the thin air in front of him.

"Tower! Are you listening?"

« **I am always listening,** » a female voice resounds from everywhere at once.

Kokoro and Futoshi startle at the sudden speech, then begin looking around for its source, but left and right there's just the infinite bend of the Ring, and no one in sight. "Loudspeakers…?" Kokoro whispers to an agreeable Futoshi.

"Requesting a security TMV at my position."

« **Sure, handsome** **… ETA thirty seconds.** »

Hachi's mouth angles ever so slightly at the voice's catcalling.

« **Hachi, why does the girl** **… have a gun?** »

"Don't worry, I vouch for her."

« **You** _ **do**_ **trust them, and at** _ **that**_ **level? Woow, that** **'s rare!** »

"Yes," Hachi plainly states.

Futoshi tentatively asks, "Is that… the other Nana?"

The tall commander turns to the boy and nods. "She's acting as the Tower now. If you want her support, just call her denomination, she'll hear you anywhere you are."

« **Sure I will, big boy! Tower** **'s gonna take care of you** ~»

"Haaah," Hachi pinches his nose while looking to the side, "just, don't take her completely seriously, though."

« **Meanie~!** »

Futoshi and Kokoro smile in sync, both quite a bit on a mixed wavelength of both worried and amused, then switch back to their serious selves as soon as Hachi turns back to them.

"So… If they're running to the cages, then we have a problem. Tower, where's Code 121 and 723's FranXX docked at?"

« **About a quarter Ring length down to your right.** »

"Got it. We've got some time before anything happens, then. Thanks."

"And then… W…What happens…?" Kokoro asks.

"Well… they reach their FranXX."

"But, can't you just lock down all the doors?" Futoshi asks.

"There are no doors on the external elevators below the workshops. It is meant to be always accessible by maintenance staff and their machines. It's a design strength, and a flaw also."

"But, their FranXX should be docked down, isn't it?"

Hachi squares Futoshi up. "It hardly matters."

Futoshi and Kokoro gasp. "W-why? Isn't there a… uhm, some sort of security mechanism to stop them to turn the FranXX on? There should be, right!"

Hachi continues to square him up, expressionless.

"Right…?"

"Did you ever use a password to access your FranXX? Or biometrics like fingerprint or retina?"

Futoshi and Kokoro look at each other, once again confused.

"No…? B-But! We needed _your_ clearance to get onboard…!"

"Clearance to access the prep rooms, the lockers, the briefing room, the waiting room before the FranXX cages, and another to access the Integrated Command and Diagnostic System inside the FranXX… but did the procedure ever stated that you needed some sort of authorization from me to start up your FranXX?"

Futoshi's brows frown a little as he recalls his countless times inside the cockpit, "…No?"

"Indeed. I always notified you that you could 'proceed with the connection', and I never stated that you were 'authorized' to do so."

Both the parasites look at him with mouths hanging over, completely confused about what Hachi said to them. Just before any implications of that trivia would pop up in their minds, a revving sound happens to echo louder and louder towards their left down the long corridor, catching everyone's full attention- something black and bulky is quickly approaching them, and by the sound, it's on wheels. A big, solid jet-black vehicle with very bulky wheels with a suspension clearance of at least the height of their knees stops in front of Hachi.

"Whoa!" Futoshi marvels and Kokoro's O-shaped mouth tells she completely agrees.

The vehicle in front of them is an extremely-solid-looking armored service vehicle wrapped in thick kinetic plating and interspersed by - what would seem - orange curved glass covering the front of the central driver seat and the squared spy-holes along the body where the passengers' seats would be. The plating of the vehicle curves is made from an extremely slanted and futuristic mesh of shaped triangles in fractal-like patterns, up to the nose where a two-handled steering wheel protrudes to the front of a reclined and minimalistic racing-style seat. Without any ado, Hachi hits a button on its side, and half of the plating comes open from the top like a wing, inviting them to get inside. After witnessing the demented looks of Futoshi and Kokoro, he just puts a hand onto the handlebar protruding from the vehicle's top and hoists himself up crouching towards the driver seat, due to the very reduced head-clearing.

"Are you coming?" Hachi asks from inside.

"Ah-!" Both Futoshi and Kokoro wake up from their astonishment and hurry to climb right inside.

"Wait-! Does that mean… I could go on and pilot Chloropythum without anyone's permission…?" Futoshi asks as he hoists himself right inside. There were eight passenger seats in the rear, all lined up and cramped along the sides of the vehicle, behind some alcoves shaped out from more kinetic plates.

"Yes, you totally could."

"WHAT-?"

"I'm not telling you that you _should_ do it, of course, but you _could_ open the faceplate of Genista if you just _asked_ her _._ " He says as he gestures to summons the holographic heads-up display of the rover and the seat beneath him adjusts to his body shape automatically.

"Asked…?" Kokoro wavers while dragging herself inside.

"Yes." Hachi hits a holographic button on the HUD, and the door closes back. "And it might open only if the FranXX _knows_ you. That means, Chloropythum for Code 224 and Genista for you, Code 556. And, with quite the probability, I might also take a bet that Genista still remembers 224. It hasn't passed that much from the last time he connected to her," Hachi explains.

"Oh-! But then… how would you connect without suits or interfacing equipment!"

"What equipment?" Hachi turns to Futoshi, looking at him straight in the eyes. "You don't need anything else to connect to a FranXX… apart from your _consent_."

Kokoro and Futoshi just can't mentally keep up with what their commander just told them and wander off deeply lost in thought.

"So… anyone could just… waltz inside their own FranXX and…?"

"If there's nothing barring you to reach your FranXX… yes. You would be free to do anything you want with it." Hachi's voice aggravates. "And with anything, I mean… _anything_."

Both parasites freeze on the spot as their eyes widen at such realization.

"I mean… using your personal FranXX, how much would it take you to reduce this place in a pile of smoldering ashes?"

Even if Kokoro and Futoshi relent to give their answers, in both of their minds the answer pops out in a blink… and it says _seconds_.

"Anyways, I hope you've got some gist of what you've never told about the FranXX system. Hang on to your seats and grab the roof handles on your side… we're in a hurry."

The young look around themselves and find other handlebars protruding from the seat's edge and the top of the rover's canopy, so Futoshi takes Hachi's hint to heart and grabs onto both of them, and Kokoro also does the same, after putting down her handgun inside a crevice into the plating that looked like it was shaped just for that. The engine, albeit very silent, revs up with an acute hissing as Hachi drives deep the pedal to the metal and screeching wheels launch the vehicle forward.

"Whaaah!" Kokoro yelps as the acceleration try to push her off the seat.

"Ugh!" Futoshi, though, slides to three seats over.

As soon as the vehicle is in full throttle along the Inner Ring, Hachi resumes his speech.

"We need to cut them off. The engineering section next to the FranXX cages has quite the complex layout and security is very light… so it's very suitable for hiding and passing through unobserved… and more importantly, perfect for ambushes," Hachi informs the two. "Coming out with a quick plan, I'd set you two off between what I'd consider a good vantage point to cut off their escape. Meanwhile, Code 196 and the other pistil that was with her could get from behind and act as a pincer."

"Wh-what about other doors leading out of the section? Could they just return into the ring and skip our blockade?"

"I wouldn't do that. Even if they'd manage to bust another door to get out, cameras are all over the Ring and we'd pinpoint them with no issues. Looking at the way how Code 121 easily dealt with the security cameras, he's aware that he needs to avoid detection… so, from now on, we will work with the assumption he will play this out optimally and try to navigate Engineering silently."

"Engineering… is it next to the whole Outer Ring," Kokoro asks.

"Yes, it runs all along with the FranXX cages, as like the repair and FranXX equipment manufacturing stations. You were inside one, earlier."

"This place… it's humongous…"

"Hm." Hachi agrees, looking at the rear camera on his driving display. "Anyways, Code 556, take a look between the seats on your left."

"Huh…?"

Kokoro peeks between the two protection plates that merge with the seats, where Hachi told her to, and something triangle-shaped embedded in some sort of retention mechanism promptly piques her attention.

"This one…?" She grabs it, and with a sounding «CLACK!» the retentions immediately disengage, "Haaah…?!" and out comes a black, long buttstock, a trigger group and following that an entire chromed, long rifled barrel, with a half-detachment and a squared virtual scope.

"That's yours."

"Ah-Ah! B-But commander-! I-I-I don't want to hurt anyone-!"

"That's a dart gun, don't worry."

"Ah… B-but! It still shoots bullets!"

"Chemical, nonlethal ammunition. The clips are somewhere around there. Sleeping darts, " Hachi explains. "I'd bet your former stamen can tell you a little about how it works, certainly way better than me…"

"I-I'll do my best, sir!" Futoshi says while making an old-fashioned military salute.

"Haven't seen that type of salute in a while," Hachi notes. "Drop-off is near, so before anything else, I'd ask you to put on your communicator's earpieces."

Still fumbling with the dart rifle and the bulky ammo package, Kokoro and Futoshi eventually pop out the single earpiece device out of their holographic phones to wear them inside their earlobe.

"Tower."

« **Yes, commander?** » this time, the mysterious female voice comes out from next to the driving seat.

"Follow closely Code 556 and 224, advise them, and provide for any tactical need they might encounter. Lead them to target and make sure they have a clear shot."

« **Right away. It** **'ll be like I'm right beside you, nestlings!** »

"Ah-uhm… Nice to meet you, miss Tower! I'll be in your care!" Kokoro bows towards the voice.

« **Oh! Such politeness** **…! I like you already,** » the voice now resounds crystal-clear inside their earpieces, with the full surprise of both.

"Good. We're almost there." Hachi takes a glance at the rear camera, where he sees both of his pupils finding and trying out some other equipment lying around the vehicle. In particular, under Futoshi's suggestion, Kokoro is trying to wear a tactical belt with a black leg strap holster and ammo carrier under her uniform and was red as pepper from having to pull her skirt up in front of the burly boy's… very watchful gaze.

"Futoshi, please…! Don't look, it's embarrassing!"

"S-sure, Kokoro-! I would never-UHHHM…!" the boy tries to say while hugging the back of his seat to force himself with every inch of his willpower to not peek her white and supple leg curves as she buckles the holster's black retentions onto his white porcelain skin.

Eventually, the rover slowly decelerates, then comes to a halt and opens its side door just before another anonymous double door in the middle of the vast Inner Ring's nowhere. "We've arrived. I'll be seeing you shortly."

"Yes! Count on us, commander!" Futoshi proudly says as he gets out of the vehicle, with Kokoro warmly smiling and following suit with her bulky rifle. The couple steps out of the car and, without any hesitation whatsoever, run along the passage leading to Engineering to try and intercept the couple just before they reach their FranXX.

It will be a very difficult operation, Hachi thinks as the side door closes and his pensive gaze lingers onto the rubber wheel in front of him. Down in Engineering, the layout looks like more of a maze… possibly that of a certain, very ancient mythos, where both the hero, Theseus, and the princess, Ariadne, must find their way inside it to slay the minotaur. Even if he can't properly convey it, the commander is very much amazed at the carefree attitude of their pupils in front of the unknown, even with having to do without their own FranXX. Isn't it a year and change that the parasites of Plantation 13 are under his command? Yes, indeed. And each time he left them out on a mission on their own, he started to feel more and more a certain type of uneasiness while seeing their backs going away from him… into a place, he could no longer follow.

"Forgive me. Once again, I'm asking out of you _way_ more than I should," he whispers.

...

* * *

 **What love really means - END**

* * *

...

" _non libertas solum agebatur, quae virorum fortium pectora acuit_ […] _"_ Titus Livius, _Ab Urbe Condita_. XXVIII, 19. This maxim says: "freedom ignites only the hearts of the valorous" and it refers to the ardent defenders of the city of Castulone in Iberia (ye-olden Spain) almost toppling the punishing force of Scipio Africanus, consul and commander of the Roman Empire, sent to avenge his father and uncle amid a heinous rebellion in the Second Punic Wars.


End file.
